Thursday, 29 October 09
We played Liverpool last night in the last 16 of the Carling Cup at The Emirates and it was a very enjoyable match to watch. The boss went with the expected team more or less with the inclusion of Eastmond the only real surprise. We played some very good football at times and the new system seemed to suit Nasri very well. He seemed to be at the heart of everything that we did throughout the game and he lasted very well considering that he had only played an hour of football before last night.
To be fair to Liverpool they played with 10 different players from their team on Sunday and we went 1 better by playing a completely different team. In the first half our 2 full backs looked a little lost at times and Gibbs in particular seemed to be caught out of position a lot but in the 2nd half they managed to up their game and Gilbert got in some very good tackles and interceptions with Gibbs also improving. Senderos had a fairly solid game with 1 or 2 lapses and to be fair to Silvestre he had a good game. Fabianski got his first game of the season and despite some good takes on some crosses he was still reluctant to come off his line too often and his kicking of back passes was not great either. In midfield I already mentioned that Nasri had a very good game in my opinion and Ramsey did quite well although he was careless in possession a few times. Eastmond played the holding role and he had a good game before coming off near the end looking absolutely knackered. Merida played well enough too although I would have liked to have seen him do a little more on the ball. He took his goal really well and he has a lot more to offer in the future I'm sure. Eduardo looked lively throughout and it would have been nice for him to mark his comeback with a goal but unfortunately he never really got any of the clearcut chances that fell to others. Bendtner had a very odd game as his passing at times was awful and he completely switched off as Liverpool equalised but he made up for it by taking his goal very well.
Early on there were chances at both ends ad Degen missed from 10 yards out for Liverpool and Bendtner from even nearer for us after some very intricate play. Our opening goal came when Eastmond won a tackle just outside the Liverpool box and the ball ran to Merida who buried it from the angle of the box on the right side into the top corner of the net on the keeper's near post. It was a great goal and I hoped that it would spur us on to more but Liverpool came into the game a lot more after that. A high ball was played to Babel who headed it back to Insua as Bendtner daydreamed and he ran forward and buried a fine shot over Fabianski to even things up. It stayed that way until half time and as the teams came off I was looking forward to more of the same.
In the second half Arsenal continued their good attacking play along with their sometimes nervous defending and eventually we retook the lead when Bendtner took a ball off Ramsey's foot in the box and turned and fired it into the roof of the net. As the game wore on Liverpool brought on Benayoun and Aqualaini to try to salvage something and they put us under a lot of pressure. At times we tried to over complicate things in defence when we should have cleared the ball but tried to be too clever. There was a good shout for handball against Senderos late on as he blocked a shot with his hands but it did seem like ball to hand to me. We brought on Randall, Watt and Coquelin for Eastmond, Bendtner and Merida in the second half and we managed to take the ball into the corners to run the clock out which was thouroughly professional if a little unArsenal like.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable game in which Liverpool played their part and our youngsters now face a quarter final tie against one of Chelsea, Manure, The Spuds, Aston Villa, Man City, Blackburn or Portsmouth. It's unusual to see all Premier league clubs only in the Carling Cup at this stage but it appears that the competition is being taken a little more seriously this season. I would imagine the quarter final draw will be on Saturday on Sky as usual and it means our rearranged league game against Bolton on December 2nd will have to be rearranged again.
Ahead of our Saturday lunchtime game against The Spuds Robbie Keane has been claiming that they have a better squad than us. I wondered to myself if they have any world class players in their squad and I realised that they don't but we have Cesc, Arshavin & RVP who are all far too good for them. We also have Gallas, The Verminator, Rosicky, Theo, Nasri & Eduardo who would all walk into thir team. He can talk all he wants about how good he thinks they are but our players will do the talking at 12.45 on Saturday as we put them in their place as also rans in the race for the league title and the bragging rights in North London. That's it for today.
Here's the goals from last night.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from The Smiths which is for Robbie Keane and his big mouth.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Never Let Me Down Again.
Tuesday, 27 October 09
The massive sense of disappointment that I felt after Sunday's draw with West Ham has faded enough for me to start to feel a little bit optimistic about our chances for this season. The majority of the players will not be playing against Liverpool in the Carling Cup tomorrow night and it means that they will have had almost a full week to sort themselves out before The Spuds visit us on Saturday. A win against West Ham would have been great as a win against The Spuds would have put us on top of the table even if it was only for a few hours next Saturday. That's not going to happen now but if we have actually learned our lesson from Sunday's game it could well happen later in the season. The point has been made that instead of trying to defend our 2-0 lead that we should have scored more to completely finish them off and the way we defend that seems to make sense to me.
As a result of our draw with West Ham the so called experts have written us off yet again and that suits us just fine. Our captain believes we have the desire and the ability to win the league but he thinks that there is a lot more pressure on other teams who have invested an awful lot of money in new players in the transfer market. We should have Nasri, Bendtner & Eduardo back to full fitness by Saturday and that will put a bit of pressure on the players in the team which will hopefully make them up their game just enough to help us bring St. Totteringham's day a little bit closer. I have said many times before that I would love to see Vela get a run in the first team but he wasn't even on the bench on Sunday. It must be very frustrating for him to see Eboue play as 1 of our front 3 as he can't get into the side. Along with Ramsey and Wilshere I would like to see how Vela does in the first team when he has all our other top players playing with him. I'm sure they will all play against Liverpool in the Carling Cup but it will be as part of a second string side and even though I'm sure they will play well but it's hard to judge in a match like that.
The majority of the first team will have had almost a week without a game for the first time this season and that will surley help in the build up to Saturday's local derby. I'm sure The Spuds will play a lot of their first team in the Carling Cup tonight and that will hopefully tire them a little with our players getting that much needed break. Realistically for them it's their only real chance of a trophy and it offers Europa league qualification too which is a good thing for a smaller club like them. I'll deal with that game later in the week after our match against Liverpool is out of the way.
In the fantasy football the Football Guy's friend Amer still leads the way but IAWWT has cut his lead to 7 points and I'm a further 23 points back in 3rd place. In the head to head league my team continues to sweep all before them with 10 wins out of 10 but I'm playing IAWWT this week and if he can beat me it will tighten things up at the top again. For anybody with a fantasy team don't forget that both West Ham and Aston Villa have 2 games each this week and their players are a good choice to transfer into your team if you can get the right ones. I seem to have given the kiss of death to Blackburn's David Dunn after tipping him as a good fantasy buy last week he has contracted swine flu and who knows when he will be back to his best when he does return. That's it for today.
Here's a little bit of Ramsey and Wilshere.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from Deprche Mode. It's a plea from me to the team but I'm sure it's one that can't be lived up to.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
The massive sense of disappointment that I felt after Sunday's draw with West Ham has faded enough for me to start to feel a little bit optimistic about our chances for this season. The majority of the players will not be playing against Liverpool in the Carling Cup tomorrow night and it means that they will have had almost a full week to sort themselves out before The Spuds visit us on Saturday. A win against West Ham would have been great as a win against The Spuds would have put us on top of the table even if it was only for a few hours next Saturday. That's not going to happen now but if we have actually learned our lesson from Sunday's game it could well happen later in the season. The point has been made that instead of trying to defend our 2-0 lead that we should have scored more to completely finish them off and the way we defend that seems to make sense to me.
As a result of our draw with West Ham the so called experts have written us off yet again and that suits us just fine. Our captain believes we have the desire and the ability to win the league but he thinks that there is a lot more pressure on other teams who have invested an awful lot of money in new players in the transfer market. We should have Nasri, Bendtner & Eduardo back to full fitness by Saturday and that will put a bit of pressure on the players in the team which will hopefully make them up their game just enough to help us bring St. Totteringham's day a little bit closer. I have said many times before that I would love to see Vela get a run in the first team but he wasn't even on the bench on Sunday. It must be very frustrating for him to see Eboue play as 1 of our front 3 as he can't get into the side. Along with Ramsey and Wilshere I would like to see how Vela does in the first team when he has all our other top players playing with him. I'm sure they will all play against Liverpool in the Carling Cup but it will be as part of a second string side and even though I'm sure they will play well but it's hard to judge in a match like that.
The majority of the first team will have had almost a week without a game for the first time this season and that will surley help in the build up to Saturday's local derby. I'm sure The Spuds will play a lot of their first team in the Carling Cup tonight and that will hopefully tire them a little with our players getting that much needed break. Realistically for them it's their only real chance of a trophy and it offers Europa league qualification too which is a good thing for a smaller club like them. I'll deal with that game later in the week after our match against Liverpool is out of the way.
In the fantasy football the Football Guy's friend Amer still leads the way but IAWWT has cut his lead to 7 points and I'm a further 23 points back in 3rd place. In the head to head league my team continues to sweep all before them with 10 wins out of 10 but I'm playing IAWWT this week and if he can beat me it will tighten things up at the top again. For anybody with a fantasy team don't forget that both West Ham and Aston Villa have 2 games each this week and their players are a good choice to transfer into your team if you can get the right ones. I seem to have given the kiss of death to Blackburn's David Dunn after tipping him as a good fantasy buy last week he has contracted swine flu and who knows when he will be back to his best when he does return. That's it for today.
Here's a little bit of Ramsey and Wilshere.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from Deprche Mode. It's a plea from me to the team but I'm sure it's one that can't be lived up to.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Five Years.
Thursday, 22 October
Today marks the 60th birthday of our manager which he will celebrate at the club's AGM. With the retirement age more than likely being raised by the UK government in the near future he probably won't be able to draw his old age pension until he is at least 70 which means that we can expect to have him in charge for another 10 years at least. I suppose there is a slight chance that he has a few shillings squirrelled away and he won't need to draw his state pension but I'm sure he wouldn't like to miss out on it after all the tax he has paid over the years.
He is bound to be very well received by the fans and shareholders alike at the AGM to mark the occasion and also because we have had a fairly good start to the season unlike the situation last May when some of the questions were a little hostile to say the least as we had again failed to win a trophy for the fourth season in a row. I would imagine than Stan Kroenke will be there too as he is our biggest shareholder and the rumours persist about purchases of more shares to bring him closer to the magical 29.9% mark at which he must bid for all other shares. There are 2 schools of thought on his intentions and we probably won't be any the wiser what his intentions are as he tends to play his cards very close to his chest.
On the footballing front we have had a very good start to the season and we have scored 40 goals and conceded 15 in our 14 games so far. At this rate we will score at least 150 goals in all competitions this season and if we could just cut down the rate that we concede goals at we would be on the pigs back. I know it will be 5 years since we have won a trophy by the end of the season but I am beginning to think that the wait may well be over this season as the signs are very promising. Of course if we failed to score for a couple of games in a row that average would drop very quickly along with our expectations but for the moment I am happy in the knowledge that we are genuine contenders and playing a very attack minded game that produces lots of goals.
The down side from Tuesday night's game was the late goal we let in and our lack of concentration in defending the free kick that led to it. Before that happened I was a little worried to see the facial expressions of Don Vito and Clichy as we came under a little pressure. Don Vito didn't want the ball played back to him and he looked decidedly unhappy when it was and Clichy almost looked like he was going to cry when his man finally ran at him with the ball. Both of them are obviously suffering with a lack of confidence at the moment and while I can understand Clichy feeling this way Don Vito should be relishing the prospect of getting the ball so that he can show the boss why he should be our first choice goalkeeper. At times we still seem to be missing a little bit of steel and teams sense that they can get at us by putting us under pressure. I'm sure it wouldn't affect The Verminator and hopefully he can help some of the others to develop his mental attitude to the opposition. I don't think it's a big problem as long as we are winning but if we were to lose a game or 2 it could become a problem. Don't get me wrong I have the upmost confidence in this Arsenal team but I just wish that they were a little harder at times and didn't show any weakness to the opposition whether they felt it or not. That's it for today and hopefully there will be a little more Arsenal news to report tomorrow.
Here's a little bit of what Sagna can do.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from David Bowie. It will be five years since our last trophy in May but I don't think that trophy will be lonely for much longer.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Today marks the 60th birthday of our manager which he will celebrate at the club's AGM. With the retirement age more than likely being raised by the UK government in the near future he probably won't be able to draw his old age pension until he is at least 70 which means that we can expect to have him in charge for another 10 years at least. I suppose there is a slight chance that he has a few shillings squirrelled away and he won't need to draw his state pension but I'm sure he wouldn't like to miss out on it after all the tax he has paid over the years.
He is bound to be very well received by the fans and shareholders alike at the AGM to mark the occasion and also because we have had a fairly good start to the season unlike the situation last May when some of the questions were a little hostile to say the least as we had again failed to win a trophy for the fourth season in a row. I would imagine than Stan Kroenke will be there too as he is our biggest shareholder and the rumours persist about purchases of more shares to bring him closer to the magical 29.9% mark at which he must bid for all other shares. There are 2 schools of thought on his intentions and we probably won't be any the wiser what his intentions are as he tends to play his cards very close to his chest.
On the footballing front we have had a very good start to the season and we have scored 40 goals and conceded 15 in our 14 games so far. At this rate we will score at least 150 goals in all competitions this season and if we could just cut down the rate that we concede goals at we would be on the pigs back. I know it will be 5 years since we have won a trophy by the end of the season but I am beginning to think that the wait may well be over this season as the signs are very promising. Of course if we failed to score for a couple of games in a row that average would drop very quickly along with our expectations but for the moment I am happy in the knowledge that we are genuine contenders and playing a very attack minded game that produces lots of goals.
The down side from Tuesday night's game was the late goal we let in and our lack of concentration in defending the free kick that led to it. Before that happened I was a little worried to see the facial expressions of Don Vito and Clichy as we came under a little pressure. Don Vito didn't want the ball played back to him and he looked decidedly unhappy when it was and Clichy almost looked like he was going to cry when his man finally ran at him with the ball. Both of them are obviously suffering with a lack of confidence at the moment and while I can understand Clichy feeling this way Don Vito should be relishing the prospect of getting the ball so that he can show the boss why he should be our first choice goalkeeper. At times we still seem to be missing a little bit of steel and teams sense that they can get at us by putting us under pressure. I'm sure it wouldn't affect The Verminator and hopefully he can help some of the others to develop his mental attitude to the opposition. I don't think it's a big problem as long as we are winning but if we were to lose a game or 2 it could become a problem. Don't get me wrong I have the upmost confidence in this Arsenal team but I just wish that they were a little harder at times and didn't show any weakness to the opposition whether they felt it or not. That's it for today and hopefully there will be a little more Arsenal news to report tomorrow.
Here's a little bit of what Sagna can do.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from David Bowie. It will be five years since our last trophy in May but I don't think that trophy will be lonely for much longer.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Food For Thought.
Wednesday, 21 October 09
Despite never being really too troubled for almost the entire match last night we managed to throw away a 1-0 lead in the last minute and snatch a draw from the arms of victory. In the long run it shouldn't make a difference to our qualification from the group with 2 home games coming next and Olympiacos as our only real challengers for top spot in the group. They managed a late winner last night to keep their 100% home record in the group and luckily for us we shouldn't need anything from our trip to Greece in December. You could always argue that we should have had a penalty only a few minutes before AZ scored as Vela was clearly taken down in the box but the referee chose not to give it despite being perfectly placed to see it.
Last night's game was never really a classic encounter but we were in control for almost the entire night and AZ showed very little for a home side in the Champions League. Our lead came when Arshavin pressurised a defender into a mistake and Arshavin then played the ball to RVP as he ran into a goal scoring position but he unselfishly squared it to Cesc to roll into an open goal. We had chances before and after that despite never really clicking on the night but we paid the price for not taking them at the death. AZ managed to get up a head of steam of sorts and when our centre forward, Arshavin, was caught offside they pumped a long ball into the box. It was headed back across goal by a player who should have been challenged by Diaby but wasn't and as our players had all switched off their player finished very well on the volley to send their fans into ecstacy. They had a couple of chances before that and I did get the feeling that their goal was coming as the clock ticked on, particularly when Vela didn't get his obvious penalty.
It means our 7 game winning streak has come to an end but at least it wasn't ended by a defeat and it's a perfectly acceptable result in the great scheme of things despite feeling like a defeat at first due to the time of the goal. Things could be a lot worse and we just have to look at Liverpool to see how bad they could be. After their home defeat to Lyon last night they need to get a result in the away game to them in 2 weeks or they or as good as out of the Champions league. Their fans are fed up with the manager's style of football and they only tolerated it when it was bringing success but after their worst run of defeats in something like 22 years the natives are getting restless. With Manure as their next league match on Sunday things could possibly get even worse althoough if Liverpool do get a result it opens the door for us a little more so it's a win/win situation for Arsenal.
Both Nasri and Fabianski made their long awaited returns from injury last night in a 2-2 draw for the reserves against Wolves away from home. Nasri got almost a 60 minute run out with Fabianski obviously playing the whole game. The goals were scored by Sunu & Watt with Nasri managing the assist on the first goal for Sunu. Jay Simpson scored for QPR yet again last night as they continued their march up the Championship table and he seems to be on a good run at the moment which won't do his price any harm if and when we decide to sell him. We are linked with a couple of players in the papers today but as it's October and the window doesn't open until January it's all mere speculation at best. The players mentioned are Cana of Sunderland(if we wanted him we would have signed him in the summer) and Ajax full back Gregory Van der Wiel. Stan Kroneke is rumoured to be about to purchase even more shares in the club as he gets even closer to the magic 29.9% mark he needs to make a bid for all shares. That's it for today. Sorry for the late post but it was unavoidable.
Here's the highlights from last night.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from UB4O. The current events at Liverpool are food for thought for all of us as things seem to go from bad to worse for them and their season is in danger of imploding.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Despite never being really too troubled for almost the entire match last night we managed to throw away a 1-0 lead in the last minute and snatch a draw from the arms of victory. In the long run it shouldn't make a difference to our qualification from the group with 2 home games coming next and Olympiacos as our only real challengers for top spot in the group. They managed a late winner last night to keep their 100% home record in the group and luckily for us we shouldn't need anything from our trip to Greece in December. You could always argue that we should have had a penalty only a few minutes before AZ scored as Vela was clearly taken down in the box but the referee chose not to give it despite being perfectly placed to see it.
Last night's game was never really a classic encounter but we were in control for almost the entire night and AZ showed very little for a home side in the Champions League. Our lead came when Arshavin pressurised a defender into a mistake and Arshavin then played the ball to RVP as he ran into a goal scoring position but he unselfishly squared it to Cesc to roll into an open goal. We had chances before and after that despite never really clicking on the night but we paid the price for not taking them at the death. AZ managed to get up a head of steam of sorts and when our centre forward, Arshavin, was caught offside they pumped a long ball into the box. It was headed back across goal by a player who should have been challenged by Diaby but wasn't and as our players had all switched off their player finished very well on the volley to send their fans into ecstacy. They had a couple of chances before that and I did get the feeling that their goal was coming as the clock ticked on, particularly when Vela didn't get his obvious penalty.
It means our 7 game winning streak has come to an end but at least it wasn't ended by a defeat and it's a perfectly acceptable result in the great scheme of things despite feeling like a defeat at first due to the time of the goal. Things could be a lot worse and we just have to look at Liverpool to see how bad they could be. After their home defeat to Lyon last night they need to get a result in the away game to them in 2 weeks or they or as good as out of the Champions league. Their fans are fed up with the manager's style of football and they only tolerated it when it was bringing success but after their worst run of defeats in something like 22 years the natives are getting restless. With Manure as their next league match on Sunday things could possibly get even worse althoough if Liverpool do get a result it opens the door for us a little more so it's a win/win situation for Arsenal.
Both Nasri and Fabianski made their long awaited returns from injury last night in a 2-2 draw for the reserves against Wolves away from home. Nasri got almost a 60 minute run out with Fabianski obviously playing the whole game. The goals were scored by Sunu & Watt with Nasri managing the assist on the first goal for Sunu. Jay Simpson scored for QPR yet again last night as they continued their march up the Championship table and he seems to be on a good run at the moment which won't do his price any harm if and when we decide to sell him. We are linked with a couple of players in the papers today but as it's October and the window doesn't open until January it's all mere speculation at best. The players mentioned are Cana of Sunderland(if we wanted him we would have signed him in the summer) and Ajax full back Gregory Van der Wiel. Stan Kroneke is rumoured to be about to purchase even more shares in the club as he gets even closer to the magic 29.9% mark he needs to make a bid for all shares. That's it for today. Sorry for the late post but it was unavoidable.
Here's the highlights from last night.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from UB4O. The current events at Liverpool are food for thought for all of us as things seem to go from bad to worse for them and their season is in danger of imploding.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Monday, October 19, 2009
There's No Other Way.
Monday, 19 October, 09.
Well the weekend's over and it's back to work for those of us who still have a job. At the moment in Ireland it's no mean feat to still have a job as unemployment soars and we suddenly find we have nett emigration again after over 10 years of nett immigration. It's amazing how quickly things can turn for the worse and how slow our pathetic excuse for a government have been to act on our problems. As you can probably tell by now I really wish that I could spend the day at home in the comfort of my bed but at least I know I can do that next Monday as it's a bank holiday over here. Anyway enough of the woes of the world and back to the important things in life such as Arsenal and the continued joy that us fans get from watching them.
We have 2 players on the shortlist of 30 players for the Balllon d'Or and it wouldn't take a genius to work out that they are Cesc and Arshavin. I would imagine that Messi has the award wrapped up but our 2 players have to be in the top 10 at the very least I'm sure. There is no news yet on whether Theo will be available for our trip to AZ tomorrow night but the manager doubts it. He says it's not a cruciate injury but we will have to wait for the scan on Theo's knee to see the extent of the injury or if it is just a kick. I hope it's nothing serious and we will see him next Sunday against West Ham but with the luck we've had with injuries over the last few years I won't be holding my breath.
There isn't too much else to talk about from an Arsenal perspective today but there were some interesting events over the weekend that merit a mention. The goal that Liverpool conceded to Sunderland was comical and the fact that a jolly Scouser threw the beach ball on the pitch in the first place only makes it funnier. I seem to remember Man City conceding a goal a few years ago when balloons were all over the penalty area and nothing was done about it at the time so Liverpool will just have to swallow their medicine. They are in a lot of trouble with 4 defeats in their first 9 games and my prediction at the start of the season that they would struggle seems that it might turn out to be true. In our match there was an indirect free kick given against Larsson when he intercepted a pass in his own box and it went back to the keeper who picked it up. It showed the standard of refereeing in the Premier league when the referee gave the free kick as it was clearly not an intentional back pass but the referee failed to understand that at all. I have mentioned the standard of refereeing this season a few times already but the referees just don't seem to be in touch with how the game is played or what players do on the pitch.
In the Fantasy football stakes I had another very good weekend yet again but there is one more match tonight before the final positions for this week are decided. With Cesc as my captain, goals from Dunne, Taylor, Bent & Defoe, assists from Cesc and Lampard and 10 bonus points from my players too I managed 63 points in total to move into the the provisional top 10,000 before tonight's match. With the Oleole leagues still being dominated by Football Guy's friend Amer I am managing to catch up on him slowly but surely and I'm nearly at the stage where I can challenge IAWWT for 2nd place. I gave a few tips on good players to sign during the interlull and Richard Dunne and David Dunn in particular lived up to my expectations this week. It's interesting to see what players are doing very well so far and Cesc in particular is far and away the best midfielder despite a lot less game time than most of his opponents. The Verminator is right up there as the 2nd best defender behind the afore mentioned Dunne. It's interesting to see Man City struggling to keep clean sheets since they sold Dunne and Dunne has settled in immediatly at Villa and raking in the bonus points as usual. RVP is slowly but surely progressing up the strikers list and he's in 4th place now and well worth buying. I've a funny feeling he will be featuring in my team very soon. That's it for today and I'll preview the AZ game tomorrow as we look to put ourselves in a position in our Champions league group that will leave qualification almost assured at this early stage.
Here's Man City's balloon incident from a few years ago.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from Blur. We continue to play our great attacking football and outscore every other team in England. There's no other way that I would like to hae it.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Well the weekend's over and it's back to work for those of us who still have a job. At the moment in Ireland it's no mean feat to still have a job as unemployment soars and we suddenly find we have nett emigration again after over 10 years of nett immigration. It's amazing how quickly things can turn for the worse and how slow our pathetic excuse for a government have been to act on our problems. As you can probably tell by now I really wish that I could spend the day at home in the comfort of my bed but at least I know I can do that next Monday as it's a bank holiday over here. Anyway enough of the woes of the world and back to the important things in life such as Arsenal and the continued joy that us fans get from watching them.
We have 2 players on the shortlist of 30 players for the Balllon d'Or and it wouldn't take a genius to work out that they are Cesc and Arshavin. I would imagine that Messi has the award wrapped up but our 2 players have to be in the top 10 at the very least I'm sure. There is no news yet on whether Theo will be available for our trip to AZ tomorrow night but the manager doubts it. He says it's not a cruciate injury but we will have to wait for the scan on Theo's knee to see the extent of the injury or if it is just a kick. I hope it's nothing serious and we will see him next Sunday against West Ham but with the luck we've had with injuries over the last few years I won't be holding my breath.
There isn't too much else to talk about from an Arsenal perspective today but there were some interesting events over the weekend that merit a mention. The goal that Liverpool conceded to Sunderland was comical and the fact that a jolly Scouser threw the beach ball on the pitch in the first place only makes it funnier. I seem to remember Man City conceding a goal a few years ago when balloons were all over the penalty area and nothing was done about it at the time so Liverpool will just have to swallow their medicine. They are in a lot of trouble with 4 defeats in their first 9 games and my prediction at the start of the season that they would struggle seems that it might turn out to be true. In our match there was an indirect free kick given against Larsson when he intercepted a pass in his own box and it went back to the keeper who picked it up. It showed the standard of refereeing in the Premier league when the referee gave the free kick as it was clearly not an intentional back pass but the referee failed to understand that at all. I have mentioned the standard of refereeing this season a few times already but the referees just don't seem to be in touch with how the game is played or what players do on the pitch.
In the Fantasy football stakes I had another very good weekend yet again but there is one more match tonight before the final positions for this week are decided. With Cesc as my captain, goals from Dunne, Taylor, Bent & Defoe, assists from Cesc and Lampard and 10 bonus points from my players too I managed 63 points in total to move into the the provisional top 10,000 before tonight's match. With the Oleole leagues still being dominated by Football Guy's friend Amer I am managing to catch up on him slowly but surely and I'm nearly at the stage where I can challenge IAWWT for 2nd place. I gave a few tips on good players to sign during the interlull and Richard Dunne and David Dunn in particular lived up to my expectations this week. It's interesting to see what players are doing very well so far and Cesc in particular is far and away the best midfielder despite a lot less game time than most of his opponents. The Verminator is right up there as the 2nd best defender behind the afore mentioned Dunne. It's interesting to see Man City struggling to keep clean sheets since they sold Dunne and Dunne has settled in immediatly at Villa and raking in the bonus points as usual. RVP is slowly but surely progressing up the strikers list and he's in 4th place now and well worth buying. I've a funny feeling he will be featuring in my team very soon. That's it for today and I'll preview the AZ game tomorrow as we look to put ourselves in a position in our Champions league group that will leave qualification almost assured at this early stage.
Here's Man City's balloon incident from a few years ago.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from Blur. We continue to play our great attacking football and outscore every other team in England. There's no other way that I would like to hae it.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Betcha.
Saturday, 10 October 09
England played their under 21 game against Macedonia last night and it was an eventful night for their 3 Arsenal players. The bad news first of all is that Theo Walcott got a dead leg and was taken off at half time as a result. Depending on the severity of the injury we may or may not have him available for the home league game against Birmingham this day next week. I've had a dead leg myself in the past and I did manage to play football a week later after working all week long so if it's not too bad it will be quite possible for him to play.
The good news from last night's game was the performances of both Gibbs and Wilshere. Gibbs scored the first goal in a 6-3 win and he was involved in the build up for 2 or 3 of the other goals. On the down side he also managed to put through his own goal but overall he performed very well. Wilshere also played very well and his talent was obvious for all to see last night as lesser players struggled to keep up with what he was trying to do at times. It's great to see how much talent both of them have and they have to be pushing for some more time in the first team. There is a school of thought that Clichy should be replaced by Gibbs as his form over the last 18 months has not been up to the standard that it was prior to that. There are also an awful lot of fans who would love to see a lot more of Wilshere as the manager continues to slow play his introduction to the team.
It's very strange heading into a Saturday afternoon and knowing there's no Premier league football to watch or listen to. I miss the good old days when internationals were played on A wednesday night and league games were played on the Saturday before and after. Now the players are with their countries for a week before a game is played but they only return to their clubs on a Thursday morning at the earliest before a Saturday afternoon match. It's a little bit crazy that the clubs pay the players wages and club football is far better and far more interesting to the fans but FIFA and UEFA continue to have so much control over every thing that happens. Of course they're doing it for their own interests as they continue to line their pockets and refuse to bring in technology that would improve the game for their own stupid reasons. I long for the day when the clubs that pay the players wages have more control over those same players and the amount of international games played is decreased but I can't see that happening in the near(or even distant) future.
I suppose I'll watch Ireland play Italy tonight as I'll be in a friend's house play some poker and I'm sure the match will be on. I have a few friends who are going to the game and they go to every home Ireland match in Dublin at least. I spoke to one of them after football last night and I told him I find it hard to watch Ireland attempt to play football after watching Arsenal every week. He agreed about Ireland's style of play but Trappatoni has a style of play with which he thinks he can achieve some level of sucess with a very average Irish team. If they make the runners up spot in the group they will have a good chance of making the World Cup next year and it will be one huge party over here when the World Cup is on if they make it. That's it for today.
Here's a clip of Alex Song showing how well he has started this season.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from New Model Army. I betcha I'll end up bored to tears watching Ireland tonight and I also betcha that our bad start to this international break with injuries will continue.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
England played their under 21 game against Macedonia last night and it was an eventful night for their 3 Arsenal players. The bad news first of all is that Theo Walcott got a dead leg and was taken off at half time as a result. Depending on the severity of the injury we may or may not have him available for the home league game against Birmingham this day next week. I've had a dead leg myself in the past and I did manage to play football a week later after working all week long so if it's not too bad it will be quite possible for him to play.
The good news from last night's game was the performances of both Gibbs and Wilshere. Gibbs scored the first goal in a 6-3 win and he was involved in the build up for 2 or 3 of the other goals. On the down side he also managed to put through his own goal but overall he performed very well. Wilshere also played very well and his talent was obvious for all to see last night as lesser players struggled to keep up with what he was trying to do at times. It's great to see how much talent both of them have and they have to be pushing for some more time in the first team. There is a school of thought that Clichy should be replaced by Gibbs as his form over the last 18 months has not been up to the standard that it was prior to that. There are also an awful lot of fans who would love to see a lot more of Wilshere as the manager continues to slow play his introduction to the team.
It's very strange heading into a Saturday afternoon and knowing there's no Premier league football to watch or listen to. I miss the good old days when internationals were played on A wednesday night and league games were played on the Saturday before and after. Now the players are with their countries for a week before a game is played but they only return to their clubs on a Thursday morning at the earliest before a Saturday afternoon match. It's a little bit crazy that the clubs pay the players wages and club football is far better and far more interesting to the fans but FIFA and UEFA continue to have so much control over every thing that happens. Of course they're doing it for their own interests as they continue to line their pockets and refuse to bring in technology that would improve the game for their own stupid reasons. I long for the day when the clubs that pay the players wages have more control over those same players and the amount of international games played is decreased but I can't see that happening in the near(or even distant) future.
I suppose I'll watch Ireland play Italy tonight as I'll be in a friend's house play some poker and I'm sure the match will be on. I have a few friends who are going to the game and they go to every home Ireland match in Dublin at least. I spoke to one of them after football last night and I told him I find it hard to watch Ireland attempt to play football after watching Arsenal every week. He agreed about Ireland's style of play but Trappatoni has a style of play with which he thinks he can achieve some level of sucess with a very average Irish team. If they make the runners up spot in the group they will have a good chance of making the World Cup next year and it will be one huge party over here when the World Cup is on if they make it. That's it for today.
Here's a clip of Alex Song showing how well he has started this season.
LINK
And to finish today's title track from New Model Army. I betcha I'll end up bored to tears watching Ireland tonight and I also betcha that our bad start to this international break with injuries will continue.
LINK
See You Tomorrow.
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