The Goon Blog

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.

Eduardo Looked Sharp On His Return

Every Gooner must have felt a tinge of relief as Eduardo had a 45 minute run out at Underhill last night, and what more, he looked in fine nick as his intelligence and movement caused confusion amongst the Pompey defence last night.

Eduardo’s game was not built around pace but he showed a good spurt of pace on more than one occasion as he created attacking opportunities and nearly scored a fine effort himself.

I think his build up play was very good all night and he really does have an eye for a pass, something i was not too aware of before his injury, his close skill has not changed one iota as he twisted and turned defenders and had one very good effort splendidly saved by the Pompey keeper, i have a feeling that our number 9, our fox in the box is well and truly on his way back.

He was substituted for a slight hamstring niggle and that is not suprising considering he will not have been in that scenario for 10 months and his muscles will have to re-adapt but its all part of the process and a massage will do the trick for him.

Eddy was pleased after the game saying,

“At the moment, I am better and I feel very happy, I came off at half-time because I felt something in my hamstring, but I think I will be all right in two weeks. The situation with my injury was very hard for me, but I have to forget everything bad in my life.”

Looks like when the games get tough our boy will be there and he is a tremendous addition to any squad in the world, his intelligence is fantastic and he is always asking questions of the defenders with clever movement and impeccably timed runs. He can also play out on the left so we might see him there sooner rather than later, most of all he came through with no big adverse reactions and he looked as good as ever.

Welcome back Eduardo; you have been sorely missed!

I have not really got much time to go through anything else but there is not really much else to go through today!

It appears that Samir Nasri has a history of health problems and if that is true i will not be happy, we have enough crocks without another one, a 13 million one at that!

Wenger has been fustrated by his injuries,

“Samir is a mix of [Robert] Pires and [Alexander] Hleb. I told myself that signing him could prove a positive gamble.

“But he picked up many injuries, too many!

“You tell yourself that if the guy was always with us, he would bring us a lot, but for the moment he has only been there half of the games, and fits and starts are bad for high level football.

“The partnership with Clichy has developed, but we are still far from what can be produced because he is too often absent.”

Hopefully they were just part of his growth and will disappear gradually, i remember Hleb was injured a lot in his first two seasons and the change of leagues does probably have quite a big influence on their physical wellbeing.

Arsene also thinks we are still in the title race.

What are your thoughts on that and Eduardo’s return?

Sorry for the short post, il be back with a better one tomorrow!

Til next time Gooners

Adebayor will be key

Well, to the Riverside we go searching for another three points to keep us to within a sniff of the leaders. It is by far the most important game of the season so far and anything less than three points could inflict terminal damage that will well and truly end our title campaign before Christmas; and that really should not be happening to Arsenal Football Club.

The man to your left will be a matchwinner if there is one to be had, he showed he has composure against Wigan and we really, really need him to be on form against Boro’ who have been a thorn in our side for the past few seasons, ever since we tonked them 7-0 really. Are they still angry at us?!

Creativity will be a big part of the game; Boateng has moved on and he played a blinder against us last season and with him out the way there may be a bit more room for Cesc to operate in the middle of the park alongside Alex Song who has a point to prove.

A big performance here will fill the team with confindence that could fire us through the festive period and potentially close the gap on the frontrunners, we have the skill to do so; Van Persie will be very important, we need some of his set pieces to start nestling in the net because goals like that are key. They can decide titles or Champions League places.

At the time of writing it is still unclear whether Sagna will play or not, Eboue will step in if neccessary with the other defenders being Gallas, Bodybutter and Clichy. Hopefully they can keep the trap shut because another clean sheet could win us this game, an early goal conceded and we will drop points in my opinion, this side does not have the steel and flair it did last season when going in front against Arsenal was pretty much a death sentence!

A lack of height in the Boro’ defence could be expolited by Adebayor but you have to ask yourself; who will be able to deliver those crosses too him?

Denilson – Gets too central when out wide

Cesc – CM

Eboue – Well.. its Eboue.

Diaby could be starting on the left and Denilson on the right; that means one thing, we will be ploughing up the middle of the pitch where Boro’ will load the field and we will be left clueless and confussled with all those young brains out there getting a little overheated. This is what worries me.

Thats why we have to look at Van Persie or Adebayor, maybe even Cesc for a moment of magic, a blistering free kick, a stunning volley or a lovely pass to put Adebayor through on goal to *holds hands together* score.

Arsene Wenger seemed to think we need to gamble to win games like this;

“When you lose more games you can less afford the draw and you are always in the position where you have to gamble with half an hour or 20 minutes to go.

I wish he would suprise everyone and give Wilshere a start on the left, he would scare the living shite out the defender because of his naivety, he will run at them time and time again, whilst also being a strong boy for his age.

He has also said the squad should believe in themselves and not listen to the negative press around,

“If there is a doubt, there is a doubt. Everybody can doubt your ability but what is important is that you believe in your ability and show it on the football pitch.

“I believe that with such a young team, the minimum you can do is to be behind them, be proud of them and help them. To always ask them if they are good enough, personally I don’t think that helps the team. It is the first question that I have been asked since the first of July to the first of May.

“I don’t know why we are always in that negative culture. In every single press conference it is exactly the same. We have not to be affected by the scepticism around the team, we want to show that kind of strength.

“We believe in ourselves.”

Wenger; three years without a trophy usually means questions are asked, a team with five losses after 16 games challenging for the title means questions are asked. Just come out and say we need to do better!

The ‘zee teem is yooung’ excuse does not wash anymore!

On the transfer front, Wenger is being his usual coy self. I think he will but and he is playing a game, he commented,

“I won’t answer that question [about the transfer window],” said Wenger.

“If I say yes and I don’t do it people will ask why I haven’t done it. If I say no and we lose one game people will say I am crazy because I didn’t want to buy. In England every problem is sorted out by buying a player when you lose a football game.

“We have a team where most of the players are 20 or 21. Instead of saying that they have a fantastic future, OK maybe we haven’t had the consistency until now, but we are not disastrous. We have 29 points and are in the position to come back.

“Instead of saying let’s believe in these players, everybody says you have to buy five or six players.

“It is difficult to get any rationality into the analysis that we face at the moment. We are qualified in the Champions League but I am speaking as if we are absolutely nobody.

“If you look in the last 10 years Arsenal have qualified every time but I still have to answer the same question every year.”

Sorry for the long quote. Anyway, if he says he is going to buy prices will go up, clubs will see we are desperate and will knock up their prices from 7 mil to 11 mil. If he stays quiet the other clubs will not have a clue if Wenger wants one of their players.

He had better buy now or i will look a right chump!

Right; thats your lot. A good morning read for your early birds, for you not so early birds, unlucky you may have missed it!

Gooner14 will be blogging next so over and out til Monday i believe, have a great weekend, hope you find lots of un-cunty streams and drink plenty of the amber nectar.

Til next time! – leave me all your thoughts on how you think we will fare!

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

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!

Hi Goonbloggers;

Due to the ongoing site building I’m blogging from Word today so I hope this reaches you in good nik!

The team put out later against Porto will be totally different from the Wigan game, I expect Wilshere to feature, with Ramsey probably starting along with Fran Merida. Diaby and Alex Song. Find the squad here.

Injuries have struck us again with Nasri out for two weeks; I swear this boy is going to be injury prone; I’m getting sick of it to be honest,

“Cesc is a doubt for Saturday, he got a kick on his knee on Saturday. Samir Nasri is definitely out for Saturday, he will be out for two or three weeks. Robin van Persie has been left behind. He will be OK for Saturday; he has a little stiffness in his thigh. Emmanuel Adebayor is rested.”

Not a lot of injuries there then! Its all getting a tad ridiculous to be honest, I wish they would get some bloody decent medical staff in because its evident the medical team are not the best. The player medicals are better at picking out crocks than fit players, Rosicky, Diaby, Van Persie, Nasri and even Hleb to a certain extent. With a small squad it’s crippling.

Add to that Clichy (hamstring), Bak (flu), and Toure (calf) and that’s nearly a team out!

It’s a joke.

The boss wants us to win this game but I think he wont give a shit if we don’t finish the group first, I want us to finish top so we avoid Barca who would tare us to shreds at the moment! Its also a matter of pride, I just hope we get a strong back line together so we are tight.

Arsene said;

“It is difficult to but would we not feel guilty if we had a massive draw in the last 16?” asked Wenger. “We would have not done something when we know it can punish us.

“We want to finish first because we want to be the best. But it does not seem that first or second will make a huge difference this year.”

We want top spot Wenger, come on, please!

Injuries are crippling, we know that, but we want that top spot.<

The fixture list has decided to play against us too with a 12:45 kick off on Saturday, a massive game at The Riverside that we must win. Life’s a bitch but the fixture list is a bastard.

One big point for me will be, who is captain? William Gallas is set to play with the only other old head being Almunia; if Wenger chooses Gallas as captain I can assure you there will be outcry. He has to pick Almunia because he is the closest to a leader we will have out there, and Gallas performs better without the armband and im pretty sure he will be needed tonight.

Wenger will be making a massive mistake if he selects WG, it cant happen, it would be crazy. But going on some of Wenger’s decision making this season I can see it happening im afraid;

What would you say if Gallas was given the armband back? Have your say in the comments.

You can now get ‘The Goon’ news and views, plus scores, sports news and much more sent direct to you phone using a free mobile application called Natajak.

All you need to do is ‘CLICK HERE’, register for Natajak and install it on your mobile. The Goon will be pre-installed so you will get any news updates we publish sent direct to your phone. Natajak can also be used to text, email and even share photos. Natajak make no charge for the service, it works on most mobiles that can access the Internet and works just about anywhere in the world.

Worth a try, lots of new stuff will be popping up so keep an eye out, also check our wallpapers out.

Gooner14 has joined The Goon’s team so he will be around and blogging sometimes!

Good times ahead, as always enjoy the blog, enjoy the game and il be back tomorrow!

T’ra!

Here Adebayor shows how good the team spirit is at Arsenal and how much Eboue is a part of that. He is a damn popular guy in that dressing room and i know people that have met him and passed comment on what a nice guy he is, you just have to ask, why was he subjected to this horrid abuse?

I would like to take this chance to say to all you Goon readers out there, thanks for the support shown by you lot, i am contacting the club to try and get the letter and the responses shown to Manu, yesterday we smashed the record for the sites comments and visits. That is elementary though but just shows the support the guy has with real fans of Arsenal FC.

Kolo Toure has spoken is support of Eboue and said the response was so un-Arsenal like; which it was,

“The fans gave him a hard time and that is not usual at Arsenal.”

Its a recent thing, i don’t think making scapegoats of players is the way forward at all, what does it achieve? i am a supporter of Wenger but you have to ask yourself why was he out there? I am questioning Arsene’s judgement here and saying he was wrong to put Eboue out there. He had Ramsey, Vela and Wilshere who could have played that role, maybe he went for experience? We will never know the exact reason, its ok for us to look back in hindsight but i think it was the wrong call by Arsene.

Toure goes on to praise Eboue’s commitment to the team,

“He has all our support because we know he is a great player. He tries his best for the team even if he is not 100 per cent.”

Something everyone has commented on is his commitment, its undoubted. He is not the worlds most gifted player but he is certainly not the worst, i think he is no worse than Park for United and he doesn’t get stick from the stands!

The tension was also a reason Toure thinks Eboue got that verbal assault;

“I was surprised because normally our fans are nice always. I think the tension was really high and that is why they were hard.”

True words Kolo, i have not experienced the Emirates that many times but when i have it has been a little quiet, i really don’t know why but the amount of posh seats and the ticket prices are probably the answer.

Kolo was probably upset with the abuse he got, seeing as he has known Eboue since childhood. The people that did this probably didn’t think that the Arsenal players were seeing one of their colleagues and friends getting heckled of the pitch, it was savage and if we lost points that day, they would be responsible. Dont make players scapegoats, take your problems to the manager because its him that puts the players out there.

KK said Eboue was going to chat with the manager and see where he goes from here, and hopes that he will stay at the Emirates;

“He will have a chat with the boss and I think he will come back.”

Lets just hope that’s true, work your magic Arsene!

Fan power is not the way forward, we cant let them bully players out the club. If we do that we will be the next Newcastle! that is the result of fans thinking they know best, at the end of the day, if they were good enough to manage a team they would be. End of story.

There is talk that Alonso could be on his way to Arsenal in the January transfer window, and after Wenger bidded for him on deadline day it may well be true. The price would be lower because of his champions league commitments, but he has done well this season and I’m not sure Benitez would want to let him leave, especially to a rival. I’m 50-50 on this one at the moment.

I’m sure we will buy in January as Glazidis specialises in finances and transfer negotiations, his appointment is timely and the rumours that he is going to try and renegotiate sponsorship deals only add fuel to the speculation that he is going to free money up for players to arrive.

Anyway, time for me to go

I’ll leave you with this from Toure,

“I just want to tell them that he is a great lad, he loves the club and wants to do his best for the club. We hope that next time they will help him to come back. That is the only way to behave.”

Til next time.