Arsenals big week review

Its happened again but who didn't see that coming? We all saw it coming but at the same time, we had some hope that this would be the season where we managed to not crash out of all competitions in the space of a week. I will admit, i didn't see the drubbing in Milan coming, i thought we would at least score and still be in the tie for the home leg. We are all but out of the Champions League as even if we could manage to score 5 goals, we ain't going to be keeping a clean sheet.

We were always going to be in trouble when after the injuries during the Sunderland game, left us with Squillaci and Djourou in the center of defence. The main issue is that we lack any sort of creativity in the middle of the park, Ramsey is not at the correct level yet and needs to be learning from someone more senior and the inconsistent performances of Walcott, Gervinho and Chamberlain means that we struggle to create clear cut chances. In fairness, we can't be expecting Chamberlain to be the answer each week and it is easy to forget how young Walcott is, while Gervinho is in his first season and come back from an international tournament.

I think Wenger got the tactics wrong against Sunderland, especially in his substitutions even though he was forced to take off the injured players. I would have actually brought Chamakh on instead of Walcott. We were chasing the game and Sunderland were sitting back with a bank of 4 and then a bank of 5 in front of that. There was never going to be space for Walcott to make runs in behind the defence and as he was asked to play upfront, he doesn't have the physical presence to hold up the ball. In my opinion this meant he was fairly anonymous. If Chamakh had gone up front i think we could have at least someone who could be getting on the end of crosses, especially with Chamberlain out wide who has a great cross on him. In fairness though, i don't think any of this would have made a difference, i don't think we would have won the game.

One thing i can never understand is how every other team can hassle and harry Arsenal but we can't do it to other teams. Why can't we push high up the pitch and run after every player the same as Sunderland where doing against us. We have better players than Sunderland and if we had won the ball high up the pitch then we would have been straight on their back 4 and it would have been much easier to break them down. Instead we pass the ball slowly and let them form their bank of 4 and 5 and its impossible to break down without the creativity of a player like Fabregas. Then when we lose the ball, we drop back instead of getting at them and making them nervous. It is one of the main points that bugs me when watching Arsenal. It feels like they don't have the commitment and desire to win the game and that the opposition wants it more than us. 

The question i find myself asking this morning is where do we actually go from here? We are in a massive rut and while it is clearly obvious what needs to be done in terms of buying players, i don't think it is obvious as to what can be done to get those players in. I just can't see Wenger spending the money in the summer and i have no idea if that is down to his own stubbornness or whether he doesn't have the money from the board. I find it staggering at how we have ended up in this position, we have so many players who need to be shipped out the club and a whole host of new players who need to come in. It was always said that we were 1 or 2 players away from being a top team and now i would say we are at least 3 if not 4. I would include a tough midfielder, winger and a world class striker and creative midfield player.

The disappointing thing is that we have missed out on top class players who were available during the summer for relatively little, namely Mata who would have thrived in the Ramsey role and provided another dimension to our team. We really miss a leader in the middle of the park who will take the game by the horns and i think that is where Wilshere would come in but the trouble is, we have missed him this season and we don't have a replacement. Arteta is good but he is not of the same quality and while he can do a job for the odd game, i don't think he can do it week in week out against the very top opposition.

We have such a tough run of fixtures coming up against all our rivals for the champions league spots apart from Chelsea, who are in their own free fall right now although with Drogba back they are bound to start picking up form again. I imagine Wenger will not even attempt to win the second leg of the Champions league against Milan and field a weakened team with some strong players on the bench just in case we were to get a couple of early goals. I don't think we can afford to risk players like Van Persie when the race for 4th is so close. Hopefully the injuries from the weekend aren't too bad and we can get a couple of players back in time for the Spurs game as we are woefully short right now.

I think the spurs game is a good game to be coming up next though, there is no way the players will not be up for the fight and we will need nothing less than a win if we are to have any realistic chance of catching spurs up this season. If we win, then the drama of this weeks football will feel more of a distant memory. If we lose then i am sure there will be more than booing ringing out around the Emirates stadium.

Sunderland Review

That was not an impressive performance at all, but at least we got the 3 points which is pretty much the only thing that matters at the moment. If we did that in every game until the end of the season i think we would all be happy, although i don't know how healthy our hearts and finger nails would be by the end of it.

Wenger put out the strongest team possible with the exception of a recognised left back and potentially Ramsey instead of Rosicky in midfield. The team did alright but we never really looked like creating anything and with Walcott and the Ox having below par games it was always going to be difficult to create clear cut opportunities. There were so many times when the Ox cut in and i would have loved to have seen Santos marauding up the left flank to provide width. Vermaelen doesn't do this at all and it severely hampers our style of play.

I think the injury Mertesacker got will be a good thing for the team, providing Gibbs is fit and roughly ready to start and doesn't break down again straight away. It will mean that Vermaelen can go back to central defence with Koscielny, which is something we have all wanted to see. Their goal which came from the Mertesacker injury was an absolute freak of nature and as Wenger said, you can't plan for it and you can't expect Sunderland to stop the game, it was just one of those things. Luckily we managed to get two goals as Sunderland offered absolutely nothing going forward at all.

I thought Henry was awful and i have actually thought he has been pretty appalling his whole time since his return, but at the same time he has now got 3 goals, 2 of which have won us games. I think there are three main problems with his return, 1) He doesn't actually do anything when he comes on the pitch, against Sunderland he did nothing for 25 minutes until the goal 2) He looks as if he wants more time on the ball, something which the premier league doesn't offer. I kinda get the feeling, that he feels he deserves more time because of who he is 3) Somehow after points 1 and 2, he is better than our other options and he is only a stop gap solution that will have to leave after the Milan game.

I think it will be interesting to see who lines up against Milan on Wednesday after the Ox had his first poor game where he really was in the pocket of the Sunderland right back all game. Arshavin played well when he came on and his cross for the Henry goal was sublime. Whether he will get a chance to start against Milan i don't know as the defensive side of the game will be so important.

I thought the pitch looked awful and it probably didn't help our passing game at all, whether that is all down to the cold weather we have had recently or whether Sunderland just can't look after some grass, i do not know. I would say it is the later though as i am sure Arsenal's pitch is looking immaculate still. Hopefully they can sort it out by next week when we travel up their again for what will be a even tougher game and one that is just as important.

Last of all, Ryo Miyaichi played 45 minutes for his loan club Bolton on the weekend and from the highlights he looked like he did alright for his debut. Drifted in and out of the game but looked confident running with the ball and was never shy at taking a player on. Hopefully it will be the start of a good loan spell, where he can get some decent playing time and really develop as a player. If he can really progress, then our options for next season are not looking too bad on the wings, with Walcott, Gervinho and Chamberlain providing the other options as i assume Arshavin will leave. I would say that we would still need to buy a winger though....Hazard anyone? i think wishful thinking.

That is it for today, we have started our tough week well and got the first result we needed which has moved us into the top 4 after Chelsea lost 2-0 to Everton, Liverpool lost to Man Utd and Newcastle got an absolute battering from Spurs. Lets hope we get some good news on the injury front before Milan and that we won't be too tired

Have a good Monday everyone.

Sunderland Preview

So tomorrow or today, depending on when this gets posted up on the blog, marks the start to what will be a season deciding week. How often has an Arsenal fan said that not only this season but in all of the last 6 seasons, whether it saw us challenging for the title or fourth. On this occasion we are fighting for fourth, an advantage to take into the second leg of the champions league and a quarter final spot in the FA Cup. If we get it right, then we will all be looking rather rosy and life as a gooner won't look nearly as bad. If we get it wrong, i fear for Wenger and the abuse that he will get at the following home match. The first match in our epic week, sees us travel to Sunderland, not the ideal trip before a big away champions league match but one we have to do nonetheless.

We had a tough game against them earlier in the season that saw the tale of two stunning free kicks, thankfully it was Van Persie's (as it has so often been this season) free kick which gave us the victory. That was playing Sunderland while they were in poor form, this time we face them under the resurgent tutoring of Martin O'Neill. He is not a manager i particularly like and i am sure most Arsenal fans don't like him but credit where credit is due, he knows how to pick a team up and make them perform to their strengths. It will be a difficult match but one that i think we can win, especially as we have the helping hand of not playing midweek. Sunderland had their tough midweek fixture which went to extra time which is why i am quietly confident that we can get a good a win, when the Sunderland legs start to tire.

There is good news on the injury front as we have no new injuries going into the game and we can welcome back Chamakh and Gibbs to the fold. I don't see Gibbs starting the game as he hasn't had any match time for a while and we all know his injury record. I see him coming off the bench when we have a lead to sit in front of Vermaelen at left back and just get 15-20 minutes under his belt, where he then could be thrown in against Milan in midweek. Chamakh i can only assume will take Park's place on the bench which doesn't really change that much, although i could see him coming on to rest Van Persie providing we are winning of course.

I don't really want to guess the team as i can see so many different options with such a big game in midweek. I can see Coquelin keeping his place but can quite easily see Sagna coming in for two games with Coquelin playing in the FA Cup game. I can see Arshavin or Henry starting with Chamberlain being used as an impact player. I can even see Chamakh playing upfront to give Van Persie a rest before two big cup games. Either Ramsey or Rosicky will play this weekend and be rotated out for Milan. I can also see Wenger keeping the exact team that beat Blackburn so comfortably. See why i don't want to try and predict it?

This is a big weekend though, a lot of the top teams face each other and it provides us with a great opportunity to catch/overtake our rivals. Man Utd face Liverpool, Chelsea go away to Everton, Spurs host Newcastle. By the end of the weekend we could be sitting in 4th place and 8 points behind Spurs. We could also be 13 points behind Spurs, 6 points off 4th and sitting 7th. It is amazing how the situation can change so dramatically in just a weekend of football. Hopefully it will be the former and we will be full of confidence going into the Milan game.

I am confident we will win tomorrow, mainly because of the renewed confidence after Blackburn, Van Persie and the Ox's confidence and the fact Sunderland will bound to be tired after their midweek efforts. I expect it to be a close game where its maybe 1-1 until the 70th minute but then for our fitness to slowly take over and over power them and for us to steal a 2-1 victory. Hopefully i am wrong and we can comfortably go 4-0 up by half time and bring on Gibbs and Chamakh for a run out and rest some key players. I some how don't think it will be that easy though.

I hope all the traveling fans have fun on their travels and i am sure they will be in full force.

England, Redknapp, Djourou and Sunderland

So the big news from yesterday is that Capello has resigned as England manager. I don't really follow England that much as right now they play awful football and the team is full of players that i don't really like. My gut feeling is that Harry will take the offer at the end of the season and Pearce will step in for now, until the end of the season.

If i was Harry Redknapp i would not go anywhere near that England job right now. It is obvious that if he wanted it later in his career, he could get it as England seem to love him. He has most certainly led Spurs to Champions League football again and if he can keep his squad together for next season (which isn't certain), then it would be interesting to see how he does next season. England has so many controversial players in the squad right now and players coming to the end of their careers yet still get picked. I would wait until the next world cup to take over, when players like Wilshere, Ox and Sturridge will be making up the team instead of Terry, Ferdinand and Lampard.

Enough of England though. In Arsenal news, Djourou has signed a new contract which is a good thing, even if some people say it isn't. He is not first choice CB and he understands that and is willing to fight to become first choice. That can only be a good thing for the club and the fact he is fourth choice, means he is a very good fourth choice to have. I remember when he was the stability player in our team and since then, he has had a few bad games and also been playing out of position a lot which is something that not every player can do. Admittedly, he is not the Arsenal player that people want to be signing a new contract right now, which could be part of the problem, but nonetheless i take it as a welcome surprise.

Sunderland has won their FA Cup replay against Middlesbrough after extra time. This means we will face them twice in a week, while also traveling to Milan in mid-week for a huge champions league tie. It was good that the FA Cup tie went to extra time as it means a few of their players will have tired legs and without Bendtner upfront, they can't really rotate right now. I have also heard a rumour that Sessagnon limped off, which would be good if he was out of the weekend game. It is no doubt going to be a really tough game and not the easiest time to have such a tough trip of away games over the course of 7 days.

It is the type of week where in previous seasons we have gone into it with all the hope in the world and been left crushed and knocked out of every competition. This season is going to be different though, we are going to go destroy Sunderland on the weekend and be able to take players off to rest them, then go and get a 3-1 win at the San Siro before sneaking a 1-0 against Sunderland in the FA cup, sound good? yeah it does.

I will bring the Sunderland Preview tomorrow after we get all the team news and Wenger's views on other bits and bobs today. Have a good one.

Frimponged, Hazard, Park and Last Nights Football

First, we must start off with the bad news which is that Frimpong has injured his knee and will be out for 6-9 months. It is the same knee that he injured last time and that is a real blow as he looked to a regular in the Wolves side for the rest of the season and also a fan favourite. This means he won't be back until probably September/October time and then even after that he has to regain his fitness and match sharpness. It will be interesting to see if this is just another very unlucky injury or whether now he has done it twice, that it could be something of a regular occurrence. We shall have to hope it is just a random unlucky injury that something more continually serious.

Wenger has been talking about Hazard and how much he loves him which i guess is good news as i would love to see him at Arsenal but i just can't see it happening. I think that Arshavin will go in the summer and that means we need another winger to come into the squad and Hazard would certainly fit the bill. He is on the pricey side though and potentially without Champions League football, Wenger leaving and Van Persie going in search of silverware, we might lose that same big name pull factor. It will be interesting to see if Wenger changes his tactic in the transfer market if he does stay. There is no doubt about it, that if he signed Hazard it would definitely go down well with the fan base.

The rumour of Park being denied a loan spell has been denied by his agent. To be fair, i never even heard this rumour. His agent has come out and said that if he doesn't get more playing time he will be looking to move in the summer. I think it has to be one of the most pointless signings of the summer. £2-3 million on a player that doesn't even get any remote game time. Plus i imagine he will be hard to sell anyway with his military service starting in 18 months. Who wants to buy a player to play for a year, who hasn't played in the last year. Arsenal are probably the only team who would buy that player and we already have him.

Liverpool and Spurs drew last night which was probably an alright result for us. I would have probably liked Liverpool to have won the game, purely because i think they will drop more points in the remainder of the season. We are now ahead of Liverpool in the table and 10 points behind Spurs which is still a long way to go in catching up terms but they have some tough games coming up and more injuries than i thought. As long as they have Parker though, they will always look solid and pick up points. The amount of times last night he put in a last ditch tackle was quite unbelievable.

The final point of today's post is that Dalglish still hasn't learned a thing from the Suarez situation as he once again came out last night and said he shouldn't have been banned. Words cannot describe how stupid that man is, so i am not even going to try.

Blackburn Review

My apologies for not posting in a while, i have been hugely busy and away from my computer. Since i have been away though, we have done rather well and destroyed a pretty dire looking Blackburn team. If we had got anything other than a win, i would have truly worried for our confidence for the games ahead. Instead we got a massive 7-1 win, with Van Persie netting a hat trick, Ox getting 2 and Henry & Arteta picking picking up one each. A nice mixture of players scoring, although i was surprised Wenger left Van Persie on for the whole game. The players now have a weeks rest before what will be a big week for the club this season, when we face three tough away trips to Sunderland, Milan and i would guess Sunderland again in the FA Cup.

I thought Walcott and the Ox where terrific on the wings and always had the full backs in confusion about whether they should get close or stand back. It will be great when Gervinho returns, as he can also take a ball past the full back and will provide us with options. I would personally choose Gervinho and Chamberlain and have Walcott on the bench but i imagine it would be Chamberlain to make way once Gervinho returns in a months time. It was good that we could rest Song and Koscielny as they have played a lot of minutes and are vital to our team.

Chelsea falling apart from 3-0 was amusing to watch and they could have easily lost the game in the end. It might just be me, but i feel there was not enough made out of the fact they lost a 3-0 lead at home. If that was us and it has been on a number of occasions unfortunately, i feel the media would be jumping on the band wagon and laying into Arsenal. Instead a lot more was made of Man Utd's great performance than Chelsea throwing it away. Why he left on Malouda and took off Sturridge i shall never know. It has put 4th place in the balance and i could see any of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Newcastle ending up there. None of the teams seem willing to really go for it. If Arsenal progress in Europe, i don't think it will actually do us any good in getting 4th, purely because i don't think we have the strength in depth to play 3 games a week, but then you also have the thing of losing confidence if you crash out of Europe. It really is one of those catch 22 situations.

I would like a Liverpool win tonight even though they are one of our closest challengers for 4th spot. If Spurs can be reeled in and join our 4th spot battle, it will make it really interesting, especially if they actually got some injuries to key players.

I am going to leave the post at that for today as still lots of stuff to do with my day, i shall be back tomorrow to look at all things Arsenal

Bolton Preview and Other News

Right, i shall talk about everything else that has happened before moving onto the Bolton game tonight. First up is Wilshere, the rumours are back to being that he is out for the season, which would be massive blow as it leaves our midfield a little short of rotation options although if Rosicky can keep up his good form and start getting a couple of goals, then we hopefully will look like a stronger squad. Chamakh is returning this week and to my knowledge did not do much in the Africa Cup of Nations. I know he got an assist last night which might help his confidence a little bit. I assume this means Park will move further back into obscurity after his Man Utd cameo.

I was talking the other day about Miyaichi going on loan to a Championship or League One club and he has only gone and done one better than that. He has followed Wilshere's route by going on loan to Bolton. This is a great move for him as they are a team who are struggling and if he performs remotely well, then he will be getting a lot of game time. We now have a big interest in Wolves and Bolton with Frimpong and Miyaichi at each of those clubs respectively. We have signed a player from Dortmund, but not the player we all wanted. Thomas Eisfeld has joined the club and it has been rumoured for a few days now. He won't be playing any first team football this season, well i would be shocked if he did as he wasn't anywhere near the first team for Dortmund. He is a 19 year old, attacking midfielder, that is all i know about him. I am sure he will have his adaption time for the rest of this season and get some reserve games to show what he is all about and if he impresses there, then might get some game time in friendly games before next season.

Okay now onto tonight's game. We travel to Bolton in what is going to be a tough fixture mainly because of the amount of energy we exerted against Villa on Sunday. It is the type of game we have failed at this season and after collecting zero points from a possible 9 in January, it is crucial that we start February on the right track. We beat them comfortably in the home fixture earlier in the season and another 3-0 win will suit me just perfectly, especially after last nights results. Chelsea slipped up again but that was not too surprising as they were playing Swansea away and we all remember how good a team Swansea can be at home. What is surprising about Chelsea is that they have pretty much their first team available where as we aren't playing well but are missing a number of first team players. Liverpool haven't dropped off as much as they thought they would have while Suarez was away, but that is also down to us not picking up any points, so they are still a threat. The next 3 games is going to be a big test, Bolton, Blackburn and Sunderland. If we pick up 9 points then we will be in top 4 as Chelsea play Man Utd and Everton, while Spurs play Liverpool and Newcastle. Can't see our rivals picking up full points, but then again i can see us dropping points.

The team news for tonight's game is good with no new injuries. Gibbs has returned to training which is good news but probably won't be in contention until Sunderland. I imagine Arteta will come back into the fold and that it will be a game too soon for Sagna to come back in, plus Coquelin did well against Villa. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rosicky given the nod in midfield as he has been playing well recently, the only worry there is that he rarely plays so many games in a short space of time, but i think it would probably be the right call as Ramsey could do with a break and will be a good option to bring off the bench. I wouldn't be shocked to see Arshavin given another chance on the wing even though i would prefer Chamberlain.  Then it will be Van Persie and Walcott taking up the other positions, leaving a team that looks roughly like this.

                                      Szczesny

Coquelin         Mertesacker        Koscielny        Vermaelen

                    Rosicky         Song          Arteta

                 Walcott          Van Persie        Arshavin

Subs: Fabianski, Sagna, Ramsey, Benayoun, Henry, Chamberlain, Park

I think we will have enough to win the game because Bolton are not the same team who use to boss us of the park with their hard tackling. They have gone backwards recently and no longer look like a solid team, although they have started picking up points and results recently. I believe we will win though because Arteta is back in the team. If he wasn't fit i wouldn't be as confident, purely because he compliments Song well and keeps the ball well under pressure which we have missed over the course of January and it is no surprise that our revival since August was partly down to Arteta.

This is our squad until the end of the season, so we should all get behind it and not talk about new signings or getting rid of players until the end of the season. That means, no more booing players like Arshavin and Walcott before the game even starts. I am sure the boys will get massive support from the away fans up at Bolton. Enjoy the game.

Aston Villa Review and Stupid Fans

Well, that was a game of two halves. The first half was one that we would like to forget about pretty quickly as it had all the hallmarks of a typical Arsenal team. We started off brightly and had a couple of half chances but didn't press high enough up the pitch and lacked tempo in our attacks. This allowed Aston Villa slowly into the game and then Arsenal defending decided to kick in from a corner. The corner was taken short and instead of two men going to close down the two Villa players, we decided that Ramsey going alone would be enough. Unsurprisingly it was not enough and Keane easily crossed the ball to the back post where every Arsenal player seemed to get sucked under the ball or backed away while Dunne drove straight for the ball and wanted to win it at least 10 times more than any Arsenal player. The second goal was a quick counter but we still had a few players back to deal with the problem and Fabianski probably should have pushed Bent's shot out for a corner, but it was his first first team game in a few months, so you can understand a bit of rustiness.

I admit at half time i did not think we would get back into the game and the 7/1 offered on us winning didn't seem long enough to me. I would have expected it to say double that, but good on whoever placed that bet as Arsenal came rushing out the blocks straight from the whistle. Mertesacker once again had a header cleared off the line; eventually he will score from a powering downward header. We had a couple of half chances falling to Walcott and Ramsey which were straight at the keeper but it was the later who would get us back into the game. He ran through onto a Song through ball and Dunne came flying into him, a stone wall penalty and how it wasn't a second yellow is beyond me. I was shouting for a straight red, let alone a yellow (on second viewing it definitely wasn't a red but was easily a yellow). Van Persie stepped up to calmly slot the penalty past Given and it was not to be the last time that happened in the 90 minutes. Before that could happen a second time, Walcott dribbled past the Villa fullback and was amazingly allowed to run along the byline all the way to Given's feet, he tried a neat little flick inside Given's near post but he was equal too it, luckily for Arsenal and Walcott it landed straight to Hutton who hoofed it straight into Walcott who knew nothing about it, but it landed in the back of the net. Arsenal where level, but were not finished quite yet. Koscielny rampaged forward down the left flank and into the box where Bent brought him down before getting a foot to the ball. Another stone wall penalty and another classy finish by Van Persie.

So there it was, the game of two halves. Nothing much else happened in terms of chances, but it was Arsenal who had managed to score an extra goal in their half. I would say we deserved the win, purely because we created some chances in the first half and for 20 minutes in the second half, absolutely dominated Villa and were creating chances at will. I believe the possession stat was at a whopping 89% at one point. I can't remember the last time Arsenal had a possession stat that high and luckily we also put it to good use.

My first bit of praise goes to Koscielny, he is an absolute beast at the center of defence and he is becoming a world class center back. He is now above Vermaelen in terms of being my favourite Arsenal defender and i can't wait to see him and Vermaelen as a center back pairing with Santos and Sagna on either side. I think we will have to wait a long time for that to happen though as Santos is not back to at least March and then we still need all the others to remain fit. It was good to Sagna back though and going into some 50/50 challenges and coming out on the other side. Hopefully he can get a couple more training sessions under his belt and maybe start against Bolton, although i think Coquelin did very well at right back and was full of energy. He provided a much better balance to the team than Djourou playing there.

I thought Ramsey had a good game and was much better than other games recently. He started to dictate play much better in the second half and was full of running, to often in the first half Van Persie was the only player running to close defenders down, which is pretty futile when nobody helps. I also give praise to Rosicky, who i have been harsh on in the past. He was full of running as well and provided some good passes although he still needs to up his assist rate and score some goals. The same can be said about a majority of our midfield though.

There was one majorly sour point that happened before the game, which was the booing of Arshavin and Walcott before the game had started, when they were reading out the team shit. I think it was appalling to witness and i hope it was just a pocket of stupid people and not something that was happening around the whole stadium and certainly hope it couldn't be heard on TV. How anyone thinks booing a player is useful before they are even remotely near coming on the pitch is beyond me. I can understand the booing last week when Chamberlain was taken off and i can understand booing at half time during the Villa game, because at least in those cases you can see it is the wrong decision or that the team as a whole is under performing. I just don't get how you can single out a single player and then expect them to feel motivated to come on the pitch. Like i said, hopefully it was a pocket of fans rather than a new general consensus amongst the home fans.

Wenger says Wilshere's injury is not as bad as first feared although i don't really believe that. Until he is back in the team i am going to take a Vermaelen stance and rule him out for the season. Miyaichi is staying in England otherwise he will lose his home grown rule, which seems logical enough to me. I would like to see him loaned out to a Championship team or League One team where he can get consistent playing time for the rest of the season. Aneke has extended his loan spell at Stevenage till March but won't be able to play against Spurs in the next round of the FA cup which is a shame. We have got Sunderland or Middlesbrough away from home. Not an easy draw but at least we avoided the big teams, especially as it is 3 or 4 days after the Milan away leg.

Right, that is it for today. Tomorrow i will bring any team news ahead of the Bolton game on Wednesday and i will also talk a little more about the FA cup and 4th place.

Aston Villa Preview

The picture above is the reason we are through to the 4th round of the FA Cup and my god it would be great to see that again on Sunday.

We face Villa in the cup this weekend in what should be a close game. They have quick wingers which we have not done well against recently, so i expect them to push all the way in what will be a close game. Arteta being back in the center of the park is a massive boost along with the potential return of Sagna. A week ago, Wenger said Sagna was 2 or 3 weeks away but i now have a feeling that he will be chucked straight in. That is just a feeling i have from how Wenger spoke about him. Fabianski has returned and played a reserve game during the week so i assume he will sit on the bench, although it would not surprise me if he also lined up in goal.

Many different stories have come out about how long Wilshere will be out for. It has the feeling of deja vu about it and that we are going to have the same problems as with Vermaelen. Luckily he is not a player that counts in the 25 man squad, unlike Diaby who is taking up a crucial place in the team while being constantly injured. Not only are we badly missing Wilshere's skill in the middle of the park, we are also missing the ability to give players a rest. Ramsey is in desperate need of a rest and he is only playing one game a week at the moment. Wenger has ruled out Wilshere returning in February and with the likely scenario of another set back and building up his fitness, we are looking at Wilshere returning late March. Until that stage, we have crucial league and cup games to play, so Wenger has to be looking to bring someone in on loan.

Wenger has finally admitted that he will not sign a full back. That was clearly obvious from about the end of December, but i do believe it has cost us points, especially as we were not smart enough to adopt a more cautious approach to the games in January. It would have been very easy to switch to a 4-5-1 strategy and have two defensive midfielders in there to help cover the full backs. Then have some pace on the wings in Walcott and Camberlain to quickly counter attack or put Benayoun on the wing who would be a work horse for the team. Instead we played with Song, Rosicky and Ramsey in the middle of the park with Walcott, Arshavin or Chamberlain out wide. The later 3 don't defend enough, they should have been told to help out more on that front but having Song, Rosicky and Ramsey in the middle was never going to work as Ramsey isn't a defensive midfielder. Rosicky is much happier going forward and running with the ball and Song doesn't have the discipline to be the lone defensive midfielder. This is where we missed Arteta has he covers Song much better and it is one of the reasons we have survived without full backs, but once we lost him and Song either ran forward or went to cover a full back, it left nobody in the middle of the park or helping cover the other wing.

Right i got so side tracked there with our full back issue which will hopefully be partly resolved on Sunday with the return of Sagna. I think it is going to be the first team that is put out seeming as it has been a week since our last game and we really need to get back to winning ways. Therefor i am going with the line up of...

                                   Szecesny

Sagna          Mertesacker       Koscielny      Vermaelen

                   Ramsey       Song       Arteta

              Walcott       Van Persie       Chamberlain

Subs - Fabianski, Coquelin, Squillaci, Rosicky, Benayoun, Arshavin, Henry

That team was so enjoyable to write out after putting the names Sagna and Arteta in there. The back line actually looks pretty solid on paper, actually the whole team looks pretty solid on paper. I wouldn't be surprised if Fabianski is in goal or if Sagna doesn't start as he has been out for a long time. We are going to have to work hard against a tough Villa team who always seem to pick themselves up to play against us. I imagine we will win and as mentioned in yesterdays post, we will find out who we could play in the 5th before the game kicks off on Sunday. I just hope that we avoid Liverpool, Man Utd, Spurs and Chelsea and then preferably get a home draw.

Spurs unfortunately got through last night although they were massively lucky and Watford deserved at least a replay if not a win. The Spurs team looks absolutely lost without Bale in the team providing some pace and Adebayor looked so disinterested which can only be a good thing. It will be interesting to see what would happen to them if they had a couple of injuries in the attacking department. Fulham also lost to Everton which means one less premiership team in the draw on Sunday. I hope there are no problems in the Liverpool vs Man Utd game today but i imagine there will be as some stupid people always turn up to football games. I actually had a dream last night that Suarez was racist again towards Evra and that there was a massive fight, luckily that cant happen as Suarez won't be playing.

That's it for me today, i will be back on Monday to do a review but it most likely won't be in the morning. I hope everyone enjoys the game and that Arsenal win of course. If anybody is going to the game then i shall see you there to cheer on the mighty gooners.

Wilshere, Injuries and Transfers

Okay, lets start with the bad news. Wilshere has apparently had a set back of about 3 weeks, which i am sure we will hear more about today after Wenger's news conference. The news came out on twitter last night, so is not 100% confirmed but some reliable sources are saying its true, so i will believe it. 3 weeks would most likely put him short for the first leg against AC Milan which would be a big blow, but he is not a player that we can rush back as it is just likely to cause more set backs. At the moment it is looking scarily like another case of Vermaelen, which we can only hope is not true. I imagine Wenger will be looking at potential loan signings for the creative side in midfield, but i would not hold my breath on him making any signings.

On the good news side, Sagna is now back in training with the first team. This is a massive plus, but i would imagine he will be short for Villa and possibly Bolton. He is another player we do not want to rush back and have another set back of 2 weeks. As i said earlier, we should get team news for the weekends game against Villa later today but i would imagine, Arteta and Henry will be back in the squad which adds a bit of depth to the team and provides some options.

Walcott has opened contract talks and says he wants to stay at the club. I do not know what to think about Walcott really, one week he is looking like a world beater, next week he can't do anything right. I know he is still only young at the age of 22 but he has also played a lot of games and i personally would have expected him to be stepping up to the plate on a more regular basis. I think he would be really stupid if he didn't sign a new contract at the club. He is learning his trade still and has many years of football ahead of him.

On other transfer news, Rosicky's agent says he is staying at the club in January which i am indifferent about. Probably good that he stays for now, but i would like him to move on at the end of the season. I know he carries the ball well and puts in tackles and what not, but he hasn't scored in so long and rarely provides the killer pass. I feel it would be better to fill his role in the club with someone who can really challenge Ramsey for his shirt next season. The last bit of transfer news out there, is that Sanchez Watt has moved on loan to Crawley Town. I never see him making it at Arsenal, as he has never had amazing loan spells and keeps going lower and lower down the divisions. It is a shame though, as i love his name.

Right, that is it for today. It has been an absolutely awful January bar the FA cup tie against Leeds, which was also pretty shambolic apart from the amazing Henry goal. Lets hope we can end January on a high this weekend. We will also find out who will be play in the 5th round of the FA cup before our game. Find out its a lower league team at home and we will have a great chance of winning the cup. I will bring the preview of the game tomorrow morning when all the official team news is out.

Man Utd Review and Thoughts

First and foremost, i would like to give my apologies for not writing for a couple of days. I had a hectic weekend which carried on till the Monday. I was at the Man Utd game and found it an interesting game to watch and did not feel Man Utd were that good. Lots of pundits said they could have been 4 or 5 up by half time but i don't really think that was the case. It was not like there were 4 or 5 clear cut opportunities, but they were having a lot of joy attacking our full backs.

I actually found it quick amazing how we would not cover the full backs who were playing out of position. We somehow were not covering the full backs while also not supporting Van Persie. I do not quite know how both of those were not possible, because surely if Walcott and Chamberlain weren't supporting the full backs for defending, they should be up the pitch near Van Persie waiting to break. This lack of doing either meant Man Utd slowly imposed themselves on the game and took over and i said to my friend at about 40 minutes that i would take half time now. So that we could re group and get our tactics straightened up, but as well all know we got to within a minute of that but fell short as once again Djourou didn't attempt to stop the cross. If there is one thing you don't allow Gigg's to do, it is time to cross the ball. He is never going to lose that ability when he has ample time. He however might find it harder to put a pinpoint cross in, if you have forced him to get past you and cross it in while running. Vermaelen also did not cover himself it too much glory at the back post.

Chamberlain was having a solid game and i was very glad the manager picked him to start. He was always willing to take on the full back and as mentioned on MOTD, that changes how Man Utd played to accommodate the threat of the teenager. It sucks more players over in case he is going to get past the full back, thus providing more space for our other players. This is actually what i loved about Hleb, when he was at the club. His amazing close control meant 2 or 3 players would have to come over to tackle him, which would open up the pitch for the likes of Fabregas and co. Sorry i am getting distracted.

I though Yenarris did really well at full back but then he was never going to do worse than Djourou. I know he was playing out of position but the lack of spatial awareness and other simple things such as pushing out of defence after a corner has been taken is what frustrates me most. I was sitting in line with the Arsenal offside trap while pushing out from a corner and everyone was in a neat line apart from Djourou who was ambling 2 yards behind. He should be sprinting to get back in that line, but it more looked like he was thinking about what he was going to have for dinner, while playing 3 Man Utd players onside. Luckily nothing came of it, but it is something that will cost us in future games.

Now onto that substitution. I will happily admit that i was part of the stadium booing the decision. I thought it was an awful decision in so many ways. We had just scored of which Chamberlain has played a crucial part in making, so his confidence would have been running high along with the teams morale. If Wenger really had wanted to make that change then at least leave it another 5 minutes and see if the momentum we had gathered could result in another goal, rather than disrupting the teams balance 2 minutes after scoring. What manager makes a substitution 2 minutes after your team has got back to 1-1. It truly is mind boggling. His reasoning was that Chamberlain had been sick during the week and had a slight calf injury. I do not buy that at all, if he was sick during the week, it certainly was not showing on the pitch as he was our best player without a shadow of a doubt. If he had a slight calf injury, then why didn't he receive any treatment when substituted. Surely an ice pack or something would have been put on it, if there was any sort of injury. What annoys me most about it all, is that it was so predictable, yet so clearly the wrong decision. No matter how well Chamberlain was playing, he was always going to get substituted before Walcott and it was always going to be around 70 minute mark. It is one of the first times that i have really doubted Wenger as a manager.

Once again, not having full backs has cost us points. I do find it amazing that it was obvious that no full backs were going to return in January and yet we have not brought anyone in. We have now dropped 9 points in January. Just getting 5 points which would have been seen as a poor return at the start of the month would have seen us at least equal points with Chelsea. I just find it amazing that Wenger didn't bring in at least one full back on a month loan. The player would never take up a place in the 25 man squad quota because that can chop and change during the January transfer window. So it makes absolutely no sense and it would have provided the perfect stability to the defence before Sanga and Gibbs return in early February. Instead we face Villa on the weekend without full backs again.

Some other points that i wanted to make are that Man Utd is the first time that i have been able to comprehend how slow Mertesacker truly is. He normally would get caught out once in a game for pace but the other times be tactically and positionally adept enough to deal with the situation. On Sunday however, Welbeck had the beating of him, time and time again. There was one point where Welbeck started a good 3 yards behind him and had nearly got a full yard in front of him over the space of 30 yards. Luckily that never actually cost us but i am surprised it didn't.

I think i will leave it at that for now.

Man Utd Preview

With all the news ahead of the Man Utd game already out, i am going to write the review today and it is not looking good at all. The Injury crises has not sorted itself out at all as Wenger has given updates on every single arsenal player out except Diaby. I shall make a little list below in order of return dates:

Fabianski - Fit again
Henry - 50/50
Vermaelen - Looking short for Man Utd (pray this is just mind games and he will be fit)
Coquelin - 4 or 5 days away 
Arteta - Villa at the earliest (massive blow)
Sagna - Two or three weeks away
Gibbs - Two or three weeks away
Wilshere - Running again but is a few weeks away
Jenkinson - Running again but is a few weeks away
Santos - Two months away

That was a lot more painful to write out than i thought it would be. It leaves us desperately short for Man Utd and our bench is going to look so weak. Fabianski is good to have back as it means Almunia is out of the team and i assume he will be able to come back to his FA cup role and play next weekend. Taking it at face value and that none of the other players are returning and reading that Man Utd have had fitness boosts with Ferdinand and Smalling coming back, makes me worry for what will happen on the weekend.

I don't think it will be anything like what happened at the beginning of the season because i believe the team will be a lot more focused at putting things right this time round, but i fear a 2 or 3 goal loss just because it will be a weak first team that will have nothing on the bench to change the game. The defense will be the same as against Swansea with the midfield maybe incorporating Rosicky ahead of Benayoun. Arshavin will keep his place up front on the left as he has been speaking a lot to the Arsenal website and Wenger has been saying kind words about him. It would not be my first choice as i would rather Chamberlain started as he is going to track back just as much as Arshavin does but in my mind provide more going forward.

                                     Szczesny

Djourou         Mertesacker         Koscielny         Miquel

                  Ramsey         Song         Rosicky

                 Walcott        Van Persie       Arshavin

That would leave a bench of, Fabianski, Yanarris, Squillaci, Benayoun, Chamberlain, Park and if Henry isn't fit i actually have no idea what reserve team player steps in. You got to assume that Park might actually get some minutes on the pitch if we are losing and searching for a goal. If he doesn't then he must be looking awful in training and Wenger must not trust him at all.

To do well on Sunday, we are going to need big performances from the starting eleven and from players who have not been pulling their weight the last few weeks. Walcott and Arshavin are both going to need to have good games and Wenger has praised Arshavin's efficiency this week, i am not entirely sure what efficiency he is talking about as he has scored 1 goal and got 2 assists this season and continually gives the ball away. I know he is one of the only players to try the harder passes and sometimes other players aren't on his wave length but the amount of times he actually gives simple balls away is shocking. To be fair to him a majority of the players did it against Swansea but he is in the spotlight more than most.

Walcott covered up another shocking display with a goal, which was a well taken finish. He is going to have to provide more on that right flank but he is up against Evra who is damn good defender, as much as hate to admit it as he is probably the United player i hate the most along with Rooney, and Anderson actually. I have suddenly started thinking about their team and all the players i dislike. We have to get something out of the game. Spurs start their hard run of games this weekend at Man City and have the potentially to get something out of it with the amount of injuries City have. So a draw of better is essential for us and the moral of the team.

It looks like we have to pull through this one last game with the thin squad we have and hopefully against Villa we could have up to 4 players back, all big and useful names as well. Knowing our luck though, we will get more injuries between now and then, but touch wood that we don't. I expect everyone who reads this to actually touch some wood when they read that bit.

Right i am lucky enough to be going to the game on Sunday, if you follow me on twitter then i shall be giving some updates before the game, half time and after the match. Until then, take it easy.

Injuries, Panic Buys and the El Classico

Not much in news floating around, which is why there was no post yesterday and why today's will be a short one. Early news is suggesting that Arteta is still not training which doesn't look good for him making it on Sunday. I would suppose that if he can get one training session under his belt then he will play as his match fitness should still be high. He is going to be crucial for us in the game so we have to hope he is going to make it in time, otherwise i would assume we shall see the likes of Rosicky or Benayoun come in, both are alright players but wouldn't provide us with the same balance Arteta does.

On the good news side is Vermaelen should be back in time for the game which will steady the defense against another team who has good wingers. I think Miquel has done well but he has been thrown in the deep end and out of position. I would be very happy for him to go out on loan next season, while we sell Squillaci and bring back Bartley to be our 5th choice center back. I do not know how much Bartley would accept being 5th choice after playing for Rangers all season but if we get our usual injury problems then i am sure he will get a lot of game time.

This brings me onto the pointless stop gap signings that Wenger makes. I am talking about the names like, Silvestre, Squillaci and i feel mean about this last one because he hasn't had a chance yet but Park. I have already previously talked about the 25 man squad rule and how these players are taking up valuable spaces. Everyday of the week i would rather see a young player given the opportunity than these players. They are panic stop gap signings always nearing the end of the transfer window that come at a price of £2-3 million and they never work out. I would love to see so many players leave the club in the summer, with some quality replacements brought in and then see the likes of Bartley, Lansbury and Afobe make up the extra few numbers, as they won't take up any of the 25 man squad quota and will offer us more than Squillaci and Park (once again i feel bad saying his name as he hasn't been given a chance, i hope he proves me wrong).

Okay last of all, i watched the el classico last night and they both play some awesome football, of course Barcelona are better and you think you have them contained but any of their players can wriggle past one player and it gets so compact in the middle that the full backs running in get so much room. Last night it was Messi who found Abidal running in for the winner. Saw this fact on twitter yesterday, Lionel Messi has now been directly involved in 250 goals under Pep Guardiola. In 190 games: 171 goals and 79 assists. That is actually amazing. My problem with watching this game is the amount of diving that goes on from both teams. Last night it was Madrid's time to shine with Pepe being the prime culprit and should definitely receive a ban for stamping on Messi's hand (clearly on purpose). I just don't get it, so many good footballers all feigning injury and ruining the spectacle of the game.

Right that is my lot for the day. Unless some news comes out today then i will be back Saturday morning for the Man Utd preview.

Nigeria, Injuries, Henry and Van Persie's Kid

Lots of little bits of information to gather up today and piece together to make a blog post. The hangover from the Swansea loss still hangs over and you got to wonder how we will be feeling if we don't pick up a result at the weekend. Right now that doesn't bare thinking about, i am sorry for bringing that up.

Preseason we are heading off to Nigeria. I forgot to bring this up yesterday but it appears our days of an Austrian training camp to start off our preseason are very much behind us, as we explore the globe to promote our Arsenal brand. No doubt it will bring more money into the piggy bank, but unless we are going to smash that piggy open and start spending it, i don't think the fans will be all that happy. The annoying thing is, i don't think our problems are hard to solve, but everyone has been saying that for the last 6 years. I believe signing 4 players in the summer, a striker, winger, left back and a creative midfielder would fix this team. The only problem is, i see those 4 players as having to be top class and i cannot see Wenger spending the money to get some top class players. Admittedly he could fine some class cheap signings like Koscielny but they usually take a season to fully adapt and the likelihood of him finding 4 is slim. 

Some early news regarding players returns from injury is saying Vermaelen and Sagna are in line for a return against Man Utd at the weekend. That would be great news, but i would question whether Sagna would be fully fit. I would not mind chucking him in in regards to keeping up to pace with the game as i believe he will still do a better job at right back than Djourou, but i would not risk it in anyway if he is risking aggravating his injury. I would much rather he misses this game than sit out for another two weeks. The papers are also talking about Wilshere who they are penciling in for Blackburn away on 4th February. I am going with that is guess work from what Wenger has said in the past but it must be pretty close. Like Sagna we shouldn't rush him back either, we need to make sure he has a reserve game before sitting on the bench and making a 20 minute appearance in the league.

Henry has apologized for his reaction to the away fans at the Swansea game. He made some gestures and said something to a fan who was giving the team abuse after the game. I have absolutely no idea what the fan said to know whether Henry's action was merited. Emotions are running high after the game from both players and fans, so i am sure it was all heat of the moment and nothing too serious in it. I think fans are warranted to express their opinions, especially after 90 minutes. I do not think it is always helpful though to do so as i am sure the negativity will harm players performances. That is one of the reasons i always thought we did better away from home, because the fans always chanted while the atmosphere at the Emirates was always tense, but that is going out the window this season.

Arsenal are trying to be clever and get Robin Van Persie's kid enrolled in the Arsenal youth academy. If we can get him in the academy then that is one more reason for Van Persie to stay. Apparently Van Persie has declined the offer so far, so Arsenal need to keep trying for that plan to come off. Imagine that though, in 12 or 13 years....Van Persie's son Shaqueel walking out onto the pitch, helping the team defend their 11th title in a row (a guy can dream right).

Last of all, Man City won last night, which i count as a good thing. The further Spurs are from winning the title is all good in my books and i don't really care who wins it out of Man Utd and City. I would probably prefer City as i like Aguero as a player, i still like Clichy and Toure and Balotelli is a legend in my eyes. I do wonder if he actually does all the stuff that they say in the papers. They have also been playing some of the best football this season. That's where we need to get too next season, back to playing beautiful football (which we haven't for a while) and challenging for the league.

That is it for today. Will be back tomorrow if there is anything interesting to report.

Swansea Review (Perspective needed)

I would like to say two things regarding yesterdays defeat to Swansea. 1) Well done Swansea, you outplayed us and never stopped trying to play football 2) Some perspective is needed in regards to where Arsenal stand as a football club right now. It is for this reason that i have pretty much ignored twitter since the defeat, although did see that someone appallingly laid into Ramsey and hopefully there will be repercussions for him or her.

One of the hardest things i have about the defeat yesterday is that it was not surprising, i never truly expected us to win that game, although the early goal certainly gave me belief. I honestly thought it would be a draw as i said in my preview of the game, as it was always obvious that our full backs would struggle. I believe that if we had one fit full back for each side, then we would have not only won the game last night but have seen better results against Fulham and Wolves over the Christmas period. It is amazing how much balance is lost throughout not only the defending side, but also our attacking game. This is however not an excuse as Man Utd have had just as many injuries as us and they are at the top of the league.

Wenger said that we missed some unbelievable chances but from memory i cannot remember a host of great chances. Van Persie had one in the first half which he hit straight at the goal keeper, Mertesacker had a chance in the second half which he poked wide and Arshavin had a couple of chances from outside the box which he should have done better with. Swansea however also had a number of chances to add to their lead and Dyer was always looking dangerous. It wasn't a penalty, but certainly looked like it in real time and it would of been interesting game had they not given it, seeming as they didn't score again until near the 60 minute mark.

Perspective is needed as well due to the fact two games ago, we were sitting 4th and everyone was very happy with the club and our revival. Since then, we have had two defeats and progressed in the FA cup with a very unconvincing display. I don't think we have been playing well for a while now and players are under performing, which is not helping our cause. I called for Arshavin to start the game and he was disappointing in the end, even with the assist. I have never really rated Walcott that highly, he can have outstanding games but a lot of the time can go missing. I am also never confident he is going to get past a player like i am with Gervinho. It is clear from yesterday and the Leeds game that we are going to miss Gervinho badly. Djourou is playing out of position but is not getting the basics right like pushing out of defense after a corner, that is basic stuff that should just come naturally.


Ramsey looks like he needs a rest and we badly missed Arteta today who will hopefully be back for Man Utd along with Vermaelen. If those two are back then you have a much stronger looking defense added to the fact we won't want a repeat of earlier in the season. The trouble we have is that with the 25 man squad rule of which 17 can be non homegrown, places are being taken up by Almunia, Park, Diaby, Chamakh, Squillaci. That is 5 places taken up by players who have hardly played a minute of Premiership football. Then add Arshavin to the list who is under performing and we are already 6 players down without injuries. At the end of the season, a lot of dead wood still needs to be gotten rid of and that doesn't include the likes of Denilson, Vela and Bendtner coming back.

I think we are going to have to huff and puff our way past the last two games of January, i do not expect any signings in the January transfer window but would be pleasantly surprised if there was one. If we can get a draw against Man Utd and beat Villa in the FA cup, then we should be in an alright position to achieve 4th with a potential cup glory along the way as Sagna and Wilshere come back. Not exactly the highest hopes but what will be considered a success after the start we had.

Swansea Preview, Transfers, Yesterdays Results and Diaby

Apologies for the preview not going up on the website yesterday, I went out on Friday night and then was not feeling great yesterday. Arsenal travel up to Swansea today and i have to admit, i am not looking forward to this game for some reason and am fearing that it could end up as a draw. Swansea are a good footballing team and with our current defensive injury crises, i believe they will be able to get at us, especially on the wings. Our own wingers are going to have to provide cover for our novice full backs.

They played well when they visited the Emirates earlier in the season and were very unlucky not to get a 1-1 draw out of that game. Since then the squad has improved and there is more confidence running through the team but we have also been struck down by a lot of injuries since then too. Gervinho is going to be a big miss, so it will be up to Walcott and Arshavin to step up to the plate and offer the support to Van Persie. I would also like to see the full backs pushing up to provide us width and hopefully provide some more space in the middle of the park for Ramsey to pick out the final ball.

The team news is that we nobody is back either apart from Djourou who has served his one match ban against Leeds. Mertesacker and Rosicky will have late fitness tests after being ill on Monday night and not training this week. Rumors started circulating yesterday that Arteta picked up an injury while training which hopefully is not true as he has been one of our star performers lately and we will need his experience in the middle of the park. Henry has been doing extra training to get match fit, which is a good thing as you could see from the Leeds game that he was already quite tired after his 20 minutes. Wenger says he is fit enough to start a game but not last the full 90 minutes, which i would assume means, he will not start against Swansea. I believe Arshavin will start after his slightly better showing against Leeds on Monday night, with Miquel at left back.

Predicted line up

                                       Szczesny

Djourou         Mertesacker        Koscielny        Miquel

                   Ramsey          Song         Arteta

                   Walcott      Van Persie    Arshavin


In other news, Frimpong had a good game against Spurs for Wolves in which Spurs dropped 2 points. Great news for us as we look to reign them in ahead of what is a really tough couple of months for them. Sunderland couldn't manage to get a point against Chelsea which would of set us up for a perfect weekend but it sounded like they had a host of opportunities, so i do not think Chelsea's blip is over, although they will get Cahill in before their next game which must be a better option than Luiz.

Arsenal have apparently taken a player called Saad Al-Mukhaini on trial. He is an Oman International that is a full back. Now i expect nobody to know who he is and probably a lot of people to complain if we do sign him, but he has been recommended to Wenger, so he must be doing something right. We shall have to see how the lad does over the next couple of days. Wenger has ruled out the signing of Kalou and Martinez Suarez, while he has also stated that Chamakh will not be sold in the January transfer window, which pretty much leaves it open for the summer exit.

Diaby has gone off to see another specialist and you have to feel for the lad, who has had nothing but injuries during his Arsenal career. There are suggestions he wont be back until March and that is without any further set backs. I would imagine that is his season over and that he will be the name taken off the list, to make room for Henry in the 25 man squad.

Right i am going to leave it at that, as i have stuff to get on with today before the game. I hope we can start a new run in the premier league today as the 4 points from the festive fixtures was not enough. I am hoping that with Van Persie rested that he will be firing on all cylinders up front and we will have too much for Swansea, but my gut feeling is saying something along the lines of a 1-1 draw.

Injuries and FA stupidity....not a lot of other news.

If next week is such a slow news week for Arsenal then i might have to skip a couple of days posting. There is such little information circling regarding Arsenal. That should all change today as we are finally 2 days away from our next game, a tough away trip to Swansea. I imagine Wenger will have his pre match press conference today and we will get some news regarding injuries.

On the injury front there are rumours that Vermaelen, Gibbs and Sagna are only 10 days away. That would be absolutely great news, especially on the Sagna and Vermaelen front as they are two of our first choice back four. I would be happy with Gibbs as well but he will obviously get injured again after 1 or 2 games. 10 days would put them in contention for the Man Utd game which would be a big ask for Sagna and Gibbs as they have been out for so long but Vermaelen could be crucial for that game. We can't get ahead of ourselves though as we have a very tough game this weekend away to Swansea. The preview for the game will come tomorrow when i know more about the squads fitness.

The FA have got to be the stupidest people on the planet. They have gone and put our FA Cup 4th round game against Aston Villa on the Sunday at 4pm. This would be alright if we weren't playing Bolton away 48 hours later. Now that game will most likely have to be moved or if it isn't moved, then we are at a major disadvantage already. I honestly do not understand the thinking behind it, when they could have easily given us the Friday night position or kept us playing anytime on Saturday and put it on TV. Anyone who has booked time off work or organised travel plans will now have to change them if the game is postponed a day. A truly shocking decision and one that makes no sense apart from the fact, the FA want more money.

A very short post today and i am going to leave it at that. A preview of the Swansea game to come tomorrow but it will be later in the day as i am off out tonight and tomorrow is a Saturday, so i cannot see myself waking up early; well not out of choice at least.

Spurs, Johnsons Tackle (Not sexual) and my shirt hoodoo

There is not a lot to discuss today, in fact there is pretty much nothing. There are no signings happening at the moment nor is anything remotely close by the sounds of it. So i will discuss a couple of things non Arsenal related and then reveal all about my hoodoo with having names on the back of my Arsenal shirts.

Right first up is Spurs going 9 points clear. We have given them the lead, so now lets watch them screw it up. They have a really tough end of January threw till March, a couple of injuries will no doubt occur through that time and i would be surprised if they can keep up their form. While we will be welcoming back our full backs (hopefully) and Wilshere. Enough on that.

Man City are in a spot of bother now that injuries are mounting up. Shows that if you take the spine of a team out in Kompany, Yaya and Silva then you will struggle even against the non footballing entity that is Liverpool. I hate both teams but right now i hate Liverpool more, at least Man City know how to play good football even if it was bought by a billionaire. I really don't care if Nasri wins the Carling Cup. Speaking of Nasri, there is a video out of Liverpool fans taunting him while driving along the road to which he actually responds from his own vehicle, while it is of course amusing and will no doubt become a hit, it was highly dangerous and isn't something that people should take a habit of doing.

Lastly on the Man City vs Liverpool game, i think Johnson's tackle was a red card as well. Two footed off the ground, which you can't do. I really don't care if he got the full ball and none of the player, Lescott was centimeters away from having his foot behind that lunge. I actually think it was worse than the Kompany challenge. The stupid thing is, Kompany sees red and has a 4 match ban, Johnson sees nothing and won't get any sort of punishment after. A crazy system of law our football world lives under.

Right here is the list of names i have got on my Arsenal shirts over the years and try to not be amazed at how badly it has turned out for a lot of them. Reyes, it was all looking up for him for a bit, he never scored that many goals but got quite a few assists. I still love him as a player and wish he had never left the club but alas he left after 1 season of having him on the back of my shirt. Next up was Adebayor, i got him before anybody remotely even liked him. I was definitely the only one with him on the back of the shirt, then he scored 30 goals in a season and more and more people had him. I thought i had picked a good one this time....now i hate him for obvious reasons. Think im going to cross his name out and write Kanu on the back.

Next up, is Eduardo although i had his nickname Dudu because lets face it, that is so much funnier and original. Going swimmingly and then boom leg broken. A player that all the fans loved and we will all respect but alas did not make it at Arsenal. Then i got Djourou, going well with the record of not losing in something like 28 games even if it was spread across 3 seasons from injury. He then managed to go backwards at the end of last season (but then so did many players), he has had his ups and downs this season...a solid 4th choice defender to have. Then i got Ramsey, i stress after the leg break though. He is pushing on and going from strength to strength (touch wood). I am hoping Ramsey is ending my hoodoo curse on shirt names but i am thinking that maybe i should get Squillaci on the back of a shirt to speed up his exit from the club.

Right that is it for the day. Hopefully there will be more news tomorrow.

Coquelin, Szczensy, Kompany and Spurs

 

Not a lot in the way of Arsenal news today, there is no midweek game to bring us teams new on, or do match previews and reviews, so it will be a slower week. This is a good thing though as our players can get a rest and hopefully give more time for injured players to get back. We have a trip to Swansea this weekend and then thankfully another weeks rest before Man Utd visit the Emirates.

The Arsenal news which has happened though involves the man pictured above, Coquelin. Unfortunately he was injured against Leeds, but in good news, he has signed a new long term contract. This is absolutely brilliant news as earlier in the seasons he did voice his discontent at not starting enough football matches. He has shown great promise this season and i actually rate him higher than Frimpong in the defensive position role. It will be interesting to see what happens there next season as i cannot imagine Song, Frimpong (after having first team football at Wolves) and Coquelin being content. One of those 3 will miss out on a large amount of games, which i am sure they will not be happy with. We need to keep all three content as this season has shown how we need every player available.

This is especially the case with the 25 man squad ruling. I am not an expert on this but from all the working out and reading other blogs, it appears we have reached our quota of non home grown players. This makes it slightly awkward to where Henry will fit into the squad. I would imagine that Almunia is dropped at we go the remainder of the season with Szczesny and Fabianski as the main two with the 3rd choice of Martinez who was promoted to the reserves this season, as he would need to take up a place in the non home grown list. Its players like Almunia and Squillaci that we really have to get off our books, so that we can bring players of a higher quality in. Arsenal have so many players who eat away at the wage bill and do not pull their weight. We got rid of a few last summer but need to really get rid of the rest soon. I would much rather Martinez and Miquel/Bartley in the squad than Almunia and Squillaci. 

Szczensy went and got in trouble yesterday on twitter for saying Ramsey looked like a rapist in a photo. It was clearly a joke between two friends and he didn't mean anything bad by it but unfortunately it was played out over the social network and as soon as you do that, you are going to get yourself in trouble. He could write that and delete it within a couple of minutes, but someone somewhere will retweet it and suddenly everyone has it and its in the palm of a journalist. He has apologised and the lesson has hopefully been learnt, we can all move on.

Its Spurs game in hand tonight which they have had all season due to the London riots back in August. Lets hope Everton can do a job on them and defend well like they usually do against the top clubs and nick a goal somewhere along the way. We could really do with them not winning tonight's game as that would leave them 9 points ahead. They have also had some luck with Kompany's red card not being rescinded, not very surprising (do red cards ever get rescinded?). Either way, it means he will miss 4 games including the Spurs game which is on the same weekend as us playing Man Utd; a big weekend. Its a shame as i count him as one of the top 3 defenders in the country.

Last but not least, i would like to congratulate Mancini for coming out and saying that Liverpool have handled the Suarez situation awfully. The situation was simple, you get Suarez to come out and say something along the lines of "I am sorry for what i have done, i have used a racist term which is not considered racist in my country, but i realise it is not acceptable here...i accept my ban and i apologise to Evra for causing offence". Simple...done, nothing more. What you do not do, is send your players out with t-shirts supporting him and defending what he did, because then you get idiotic fans thinking its alright to be racist which happened against Oldham. There is absolutely nothing i like about Liverpool football club.

Not the most Arsenal related post, but that's how it goes sometimes.  

Leeds Review - The King Is Most Definitely Back!

 

This is really hard to sum up into words, it was just perfect. Just looking at the picture above brings a smile to my face. Everyone said, "the KING is back" and that he would come off the bench and score the winner, i don't know how many people truly believed the words that were coming out of their mouths and those who were more hopeful. As i watched the ball get put through by Song, my heartbeat suddenly raced up, i thought this is it...the first touch slightly wobbly but enough to take it away from the defenders trying to get back. Then you knew there would be no other outcome, Thierry Henry was in his favourite position, 'the Theirry Henry finish' as Wenger described it. It curled out of the Keepers outstretched arm and into the bottom corner.

In all my years as an Arsenal fan, i can't remember a time when i have seen Henry celebrate like that. I have seen him celebrate with passion, with anger, with heart but last night was something different, as he said...he scored and celebrated like a fan. You could see the rush of uncontrollable emotion run over his body for the first 3 or 4 seconds and it was a joy to watch. This is the type of moment that makes you honoured to support Arsenal, nobody but Arsenal fans will understand how big a moment this was and how special it was to watch.

Somebody mentioned on twitter before the game that this will be some Arsenal fans, first real experience of seeing Henry, they will know he is a legend of the club but missed his twilight years. Yesterday they will have got a taste of that and realized just how big he was and is for the club. Before he came on the pitch, you could see the asset he was bringing to the club already with his knowledge. I think it was Arshavin had a shot which he skewed over, the camera cut to Henry giving advice to Walcott on how he should have taken it. That kind of information is invaluable and will help the whole team with their finishing. The passion he has for Arsenal will rub off on the other players which can only be a good thing. The last thing i will say about Henry is that, it is an honour and pleasure to have him back at the club, which you can see he truly loves.

In terms of the team selection, i was surprised at how strong it was. You could see Wenger clearly didn't want a repeat of last years replay situation. Leeds offered very little and unfortunately we didn't create very many clear cut opportunities. I thought Ramsey had a good game and will definitely make the Soccer AM show boat for some of the tricks he was pulling off. I thought Arshavin had a much better game although his shooting boots have been left behind somewhere. I would like to seem him start against Swansea and see what he can do with a second game in space of a week, something he hasn't experienced for a while. If he could get a cheeky goal, then he really could push on for the second half of the season as he wasn't short of confidence in taken on the Leeds fullback.

A mention for Arteta, he was given the Captains armband, which should not be undervalued. You can see that he has had a big impact since he has been at the club on and off the field. He is a very calming influence in the center of the park and he rarely gives the ball away. I also can't think of many times he has got a rest, yet he keeps performing. Chamberlain had a solid game and showed some good crosses, definitely deserves more game time from the bench, especially now Gervinho is away for 2 months. Chamberlain can not only control a shot to keep it down but also hit it with a lot of power. I would love to see him really push Theo for the remainder of the season as i believe he has the potential to offer as much.

Lastly, what is up with our full back position, it is cursed. Coquelin who was gaining valuable experience and also playing really well is now out for around 3 weeks by the sounds of things. It leaves us very short for the weekends trip to Swansea and playing against their two fast wingers wont be an easy task for whoever has to slot in. I am fearing more of Squillaci, but we could just put him at right back and he will get injured within the first 45 minutes. Not a bad idea actually.

Right, i said it was the last of Henry, but here is one more picture.