Some Arsenal musings: Barnet, debuts, Cesc, Number 1s

19 07 2010

So I am back from a holiday in France, very nice it was too, also more pleasant not to have TV or internet which was odd at first but was quite nice not to be lured by the masses of information we have in our daily lives. But back to reality, which means Arsenal.

Our pre-season kicked off on Saturday with the trip to Barnet. We ran away 4-0 winners with Arshavin, Jay Simpson (2) and Nasri on the score sheet. The game also saw debuts for Chamakh and Koscielny, for the former Arsene said “Chamakh was very good at bringing players in. With our creative midfielders, that will be suited to our game” and he added “Koscielny adjusted slowly to the required challenges in the air”. Only 45 minutes each but at least they are starting to get involved in things. Hopefully they will both progress well in the early season.

Cesc is still being talked about by Barca, but Arsene has asked for this all to stop. I’m not convinced that they will listen, but we can all hope. I’m still not sure this saga is over, even if he does remain at the club I worry what reaction the fans and players will have to the want away captain. Time will tell, and no doubt there will be more on that in the coming weeks as well.

One final bit of intrigue was on the keeper situation; Almunia was “unwell” for Barnet, so Fabianski, Mannone and Szczesny all played a part. After the game Arsene said this;

“At the moment, in pre-season, there is no No 1 – you have to give a chance to everyone to show how good he is. You cannot decide that today.”

Interesting, surely our best keeper would be number one. I doubt Casillas or  Stekelenburg will be fighting for their number one spots when they return to their clubs. I would hope a transfer move takes place for this position. On the subject of which rumours are that Eduardo is off, to Shaktar Donetsk, more on that as it comes.

Also there will be a competition on here over the next few days, more to come soon. Thanks for reading.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal

Arsenal v Tottenham preview – who will be in goal?

30 10 2009

Almost exactly a year since the teams last met at the grove, the wounds are still there from that 4-4 defeat. Yes I did say defeat because that’s pretty much what it was in all honesty. I remember being stunned by their fourth goal, I rolled my scarf up and put it in my pocket. The walk back from the ground to the tube was a quiet one.

This season the wheels are yet to fall off roflenham’s campaign, but the better they think they are the funnier it is when they fall to their rightful position in the league.

Our line up should pick itself provided we don’t have any injuries overnight, a back four of Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy is likely but I would not object to Gibbs starting on the left. In the middle I expect Song, Cesc, Diaby, but Nasri could be used or come on as a sub later in the game. Our front line of Arshavin, van Persie, Eboue is likely, but Eduardo may feature in that three. Which ever way the outfield 10 goes I feel confident.

What I am concerned with though is who plays in goal. Fabianski is out, so it’s down to Mannone or Almunia. Arsène says he has chosen his keeper for Sp*rs, I hope it’s Almunia. No disrespect to Vito but this is a big big game, we cannot lose this one. A win is pretty much a must otherwise that lot will be world champions all over again, like they think they have been so many times in the past. We need a strong keeper at the back, whilst it can be debated Almunia is not all that, he is the best we have.

This, it goes without saying, is a massive game. A result here must take precedence over everything else that has happened recently. Forget throwing away the lead in two games. Forget what some former player might be saying. Think only about beating them by a number of goals. I hope Arshavin has a brilliant game, he knows how much this derby means to us fans. I want to see him with his finger on his lips as he waddles to the corner flag after scoring a couple of screamers.

Come on you Gunners, do this for the fans!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Home games 09/10

West Ham 2 – 2 Arsenal, that feels like a defeat

26 10 2009

I thought that the game against West Ham would not be an easy one, but most certainly one we could win. All was going well in the first half. Two good goals; the first a great cross from Sagna allowed van Persie to score following an error by Robert Green, the second from a corner and a centre back headed home, Gallas this time. 2-0 up coming to half time, just another goal or two and the game is put to bed.

Except the players seemed to read that as “the game is put to bed”. Much like against Alkmaar it would appear our players thought their work was done. Foot can come off the gas, it’s not like we would make any errors to allow West Ham back into the game. Give their home support something to shout about and spur them towards an equaliser.

Oh but hang on, we did make some errors. A generous free kick was palmed away by Mannone. Sadly not palmed away into touch but palmed into the 6 yard box pretty much into the path of Carlton Cole. Goalkeeper error pure and simple. Vito had done well, in the main, but that error was not something any professional keeper should make, regardless of his place in the pecking order at a club. It is impossible to say Almunia or Fabianski would not have made such an error, but I would hope they would have more quality not to do so. This experiment cost us a goal, it let West Ham back into the game.

At 2-1 down there was a light at the end of the tunnel and credit to West Ham, they raced toward it. One penalty claim was turned down, the second was given. My West Ham supporting friend sent me this message on twitter;

Never a pen in a million years!

It was a weak decision from the ref. But we have to take these things, once the decision is made you have to put up with it. But why did we risk being there in the first place. Song, who had been on the whole good, made an error and caught Cole on the ankle, he went down and gave the ref the option of giving the penalty. Had there not been a goalkeeping error earlier in the game giving that penalty away would not have been so costly. But it was. Penalty duly dispatched and it was 2-2.

Where is that killer instinct? If the team truly feels every game will be like the 4-0 against Wigan or the 6-1 at Everton where they can score for fun and not get any resistance from the opposition then they are way off the mark. The Premier League is possibly the most open it has been for a number of years, if ever, any team can beat any team. Just look at the results we have already witnessed this season. Our players need to be on top of their game for the whole game. The philosophy of we will outscore the opposition so defence doesn’t matter is all well and good, but you need to outscore the opposition for that to work! We needed to be 3 or 4 up to put a game like yesterday to bed. West Ham are fighting already, this early into the season they need to be given their league position, sadly our players didn’t take that into account.

The result yesterday might as well have been a defeat for me, unlike Alkmaar where I was minded to feel it was one of those things, to let a lead slip twice in two games is unforgivable. Our next game is at home to the scum, it’s not like we have let a lead slip against them at home recentl….hmmmm. The players hopefully got a good bollocking from someone, they need it. I was pretty pissed off when the final whistle went yesterday, I hope the players felt the same. I think the only way they can show how much they are annoyed is to thoroughly trounce the next team we face in the league.

Yours, annoyed of Block 6.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Away games 09/10

West Ham v Arsenal preview

24 10 2009

So it’s West Ham tomorrow, last season we won 2-0 away to them and whilst we might not keep a clean sheet I can see us winning tomorrow. I expect Eduardo may get to start, but Arsène may stick with the Arshavin-van Persie-Eboue front three. I would expect Eboue to feature, either at right back or as the right side of the front three. But we don’t need to rest any players in reality given that the next game is Saturday and there will be mostly youngsters playing Wednesday in the Carling Cup. Bendtner was still rated as 50/50 yesterday, if he does get deemed fit I doubt we will see him start.

On the goalkeeper front I wonder if we might see all three feature in our next three games, tomorrow Mannone, Wednesday Fabianski and Almunia will return for the North London Derby. It will be interesting to see whatever way Arsène decides to pick the man in goal.

We really should have a more positive look in tomorrow’s game. I think the laid back approach we saw when 2-0 against Birmingham and 1-0 against AZ Alkmaar will not be there. Hopefully that has given the team a kick up the backside to tell them it won’t all be easy wins this season to get a trophy or two. A quick start with a couple of early goals then apply more pressure rather than let the game come to us would be nice to see. Hopefully they have all been told something similar in the last few days.

The game is live on Sky tomorrow, so hopefully an entertaining afternoon is in store, comedy if Liverpool get beaten but if they win it means we have a great chance of closing at the top of the table, our game follows so there is a chance to get some points to cement our place where we rightly belong. Unlike some of the pretenders who are starting to cock it up. Enjoy the game wherever you are watching.


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Away games 09/10

Friday, Rosicky out, Bendtner maybe, but who will be in goal?

23 10 2009

A quick update to the 50/50 chances of two of our players. Tomas Rosicky will not make Sunday’s game following training today. Nicklas Bendtner however still has a chance and will be fully assesed after training tomorrow. Senderos “could be available again” you have to ask why he hasn’t been previously. All three keepers seem fit, when asked who would start Arsène had this repsonse;

“I do not know…come to the game on Sunday and you will see”

Which sort of says to me that it won’t be Almunia. If he was going to drop Mannone for Almunia I doubt Vito could have any real complaints, but there must be more to this.

More thoughts on the West Ham game tomorrow probably.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Away games 09/10

An injury update & goalkeepers

22 10 2009

Arsène gave an interview with the official site today prior to the players giving him the bumps and the birthday cake being served.

For Sunday’s game against West Ham we can expect Eduardo to be in the squad, Rosicky and Bendtner are 50/50 to feature, Walcott is definitely out. Samir Nasri “probably needs another game, against Liverpool” before he can be fully in the first team, so I suspect he might not feature on Sunday even on the bench.

On the long term front Denilson is another 4 weeks away, but Johan Djourou won’t be back until March which is a long time away and a shame for the young Swiss defender who would have been a good backup and probably have been called upon in a rotational sense by now.

Arsène was also asked which of our three keepers we might see at the weekend. He mentioned that Fabianski needs some more time but he was very hesitant on who might feature. He stuck with Mannone on Tuesday as “Manuel was not fully ready” and “Mannone had not let us down”. It remains very interesting as to what is going on on the goalkeeping front.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal

Arsenal 3 – 1 Birmingham match report

18 10 2009

So the decision Arsène had to make which I alluded to here yesterday morning was to stick with young Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone rather than pick Manuel Almunia who, it would appear given his place on the bench, is back to match fitness. Interesting, but given the form that our third choice keeper has shown it is understandable. There was also a start at right back for Eboue and Theo Walcott also got his first Premier League start of the season.

However Theo’s afternoon was short lived. A strong/robust/letting him know he was there challenge early in the game saw Theo on the ground and clearly in pain, he was treated on the sidelines for a while and my initial reaction was that he wouldn’t return. However he was soon back on and almost immediately had a chance for a fine goal but Birmingham keeper Joe Hart made a good save. Walcott was replaced however by Arshavin just after the half hour and Arsène later said he expects Theo to miss the Alkmaar game.

Our first goal came from Robin van Persie, that is now 4 in 4 for the Dutchman, a pass from the impressive Alex Song saw van Persie get in behind the defence. The ball seemed to get caught in his feet, but he was able to control it and fire a fine shot into the net. We had barely finished celebrating when our second goal came, a Rosicky ball across the 6 yard box was missed by van Persie and Walcott but Abou Diaby was there to fire it into the corner. 2-0 and time to relax?

Relax was what Arsenal seemed to do, Birmingham got more into the game at this point and there was a slight sense of frustration growing in the crowd. I suspect this is partly to do with our current free scoring ways, but as passes started to go astray there were the inevitable groans and concerns from the northern section of the stadium. Birmingham scored following a Mannone mistake, he came for a ball that was looped into the 6 yard box, failed to collect and it fell to Bowyer who scored. From our initial view it looked like he may have been fouled, but replays later showed it was more error than being impeded that resulted in the goal. We still look vulnerable in defence, this needs fixing, but the caveat to that is that none of the other top 4 teams are solid at the back yet either.

The second half started a bit flatter from our point of view, there were chances but none of them seemed to go our way. Birmingham were edging into the game and had a good chance for an equaliser had Mannone not scooped the ball away from two advancing players. Soon after this Mannone collected a ball in the area, he swiftly threw it to Cesc. At this point the crowd roared with encouragement, it was good to hear. Fabregas ran up the middle of the pitch and played the ball to Arshavin on his left. The Russian took the ball just inside the edge of the area, used the defender to partly block Hart’s view and slotted the winner home. Pure brilliant Arsenal counter attack, no team does this as well as us.

Another 3 points, against a team that we struggled with 2 seasons ago. Things continue to look good. We are on a great winning run, and are yet to draw a game this season, this momentum is building for us and hopefully we can keep that going.

Players of note yesterday were Kieran Gibbs who performed well at left back. Song and Diaby also looked good in midfield, there are those internet warriors who will say “they would look good against poor opposition” and yes they should do but they can only perform against what is in front of them and I feel these players deserve credit for their improvements. I really think we will miss Song when he is at the ACN. Mannone, whilst at fault for the goal, overall played well. You cannot say for certain that Almunia would not have made the same mistake, he has done similar things before. I still wonder if Arsène will reselect him or stick with Vito, Manuel did not look happy sat on the bench yesterday.

Tuesday sees us play at AZ Alkmaar in the third game of the Champions League group stage. More on that game in the next couple of days. Meanwhile we can bask in our league form and console ourselves that we did not concede a goal to a beach ball!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Home games 09/10

Almunia or Mannone?

17 10 2009

In an ideal world there would be no issue for Arsène as he picks today’s starting 11. His number one keeper is reported to be back to full fitness. It is a natural choice to select him over his third choice keeper who has stood in for a few weeks.

However, this is Arsenal and things are never really that simple for us. Before his “chest infection” Manuel was not at the top of his game. He had made one or two good saves but he also looked a bit shakey and nowhere near the form, and confidence, you would expect of a first choice keeper in a top Premier League side. He contracted a “chest infection” and some of the Arsenal forums went into meltdown (again) with the prospect of our third choice, and as yet untested, keeper Vito Mannone starting between the sticks. However young Vito did very very well. He surprised many people, I include myself in that, with some outstanding performances. We would not have won the Fulham game without his performance, there is no doubt about that. He is young, and his decisions show that sometimes but he has stepped up to the plate when asked and has been a great deputy.

So today Arsène has a real headache. Does he drop Vito who is on form? It is a natural choice to do so, but Alumina did not really have the form before he missed the games. Is this the wake-up call that Manuel needed? I suspect he had become comfortable knowing that the much younger keepers behind him in the pecking order provided very little in the way of competition, but one of them has certainly proved that to be wrong. When the teamsheet is announced today it will be very interesting, and something that at the moment I am unable to call.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Home games 09/10

Arsenal 6 – 2 Blackburn

4 10 2009
Image from Arsenal.com

Image from Arsenal.com

Arsenal fell behind twice in the game, the first inside 5 minutes and the second on the half hour. Both provided a real test for Arsenal, many pundits feel we don’t have the character to come back from being behind. However Arsenal played on, stuck to their game and slick attacking football won the day.

Blackburn’s first goal was a defensive error from Thomas Vermaelen, probably his first in an Arsenal shirt, when he was either out of position or outjumped following a long ball from Blackburn and the resulting attacking header looped over Vito Mannone. The crowd were a bit stunned but almost immediately got behind the team. Arsenal were strong in possession and it was only a matter of time before our first goal. Redeeming himself for the first goal Thomas Vermaelen fired a rocket shot form 20 yards out, his fifth goal this season. But we continued to look shaky in defence and were caught by a break from Blackburn where none of the back 4 seemed to want to make a challenge. A shot from David Dunn deflected in off Gallas’ leg and Blackburn were again in front.

But almost immediately we were back in it, a ball from Fabregas played van Persie in beautifully behind the defence and the Dutchman slotted cooly home. Back level but the nerves were still there. Our lead came a few minutes after our equaliser, another Fabregas pass set Arshavin up to give us the lead just before half time. It was 3-2 Arsenal.

At half-time I felt we needed a two goal lead to be comfortable, given the frailties in defence that Blackburn had already twice exploited. We came out firing in the second half, Wengerball was in full flow today. Some lovely passing play saw the ball zip around our midfield and forward players and you could tell another goal was only a matter of time away.

A chip from the again impressive Tomas Rosicky bounced in front of Fabregas who hit it on the half volley into the back of the net. Another cracking goal and one well deserved by our captain. The returning Walcott came on for Rosciky on 69 minutes to rapturous applause form the home fans, and his pace almost immediately worried Blackburn. Theo is back. He capped his return with a very well taken goal, a pass from Cesc was met by the advancing Walcott who did not need to hesitate before slamming the ball into the net. 5-2 Arsenal. Bendtner and Ramsey replaced Arshavin and Fabregas on 76 minutes and the Dane almost immediately had a chance for a goal but it was saved by Robinson. But he didn’t have to wait long and our sixth goal of the day was a cracker from Bendtner, taking the ball from the left then shooting from just outside the box with the ball going in off the post.

Whilst we were not defensively robust today our attacking game was a joy to behold. Passing the ball around like it was a training session then multiple chances again. If we can keep this attacking play up all season we have no-one to fear.

Thierry Henry made a cameo appearance just before the game, the home fans gave him a great reception. He was sat above block 6 and stood up and waved as we sang his song late in the game. It would be great to see him back.

In previous seasons I doubt we would have come back from being behind twice, perhaps we might have managed a draw but I doubt we would have continued pushing to get more and more goals. We didn’t sit back at anytime with a 3-2 or even 4-2 lead. It was a continual attacking performance which must worry some of the other top teams.

A mention must go to our captain Cesc Fabregas. Whilst he was on the pitch he was involved in every goal. 1 goal and 4 assists on top of a sublime performance where he dominated the midfield shows just how much he is worth to us when he is on top of his game. He was fantastic today and my player of the game. A great performance and a great result.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Home games 09/10

Blackburn preview

3 10 2009

Last season’s home game against Blackburn saw Andrey Arshavin’s first goal in an Arsenal shirt, and what a goal it was. Another goal like that would be fantastic tomorrow. Blackburn was also the first fixture that Arsène Wenger managed the club in, it would be fitting that following his feat of being the club’s longest serving manager to follow that up with another victory.

The walrus will put his team out to do a number of things; 1) foul us 2) frustrate us with 10 men behind the ball 3) foul us 4) foul us. We need a nice early goal to get things going. Whilst the crowd were very good against Olympiakos whilst waiting for a goal I think the frustration of no goals against a poor Premier League team might not be as welcome. But a goal in the first half hour would set us up fine and then the flood gates can open.

In team news Eduardo is missing, he has aggravated a thigh injury which he keeps doing. This is a bit of a worry, I can’t find anywhere if it is the thigh of the leg he had broken, but he needs full fitness for a run of games. Even though we have a wealth of attacking players it is no good with a few of them constantly in our injury emporium. Theo and Bendtner return to the squad. I would expect Theo to be a sub and not to start as he is still getting back to match fitness but there might be a start for the big Dane given Eduardo’s absence. Vito Mannone will continue in goal as Alumunia “has still not recovered” cough cough, from his chest infection.

Arsène also said that Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski will return to training before the end of the international break so hopefully they will both be back in the squad come December.

Arsène has also been talking up his successors in midweek, the most interesting (for me anyway) is Thierry. Our very own Pep Guardiola? Who knows, but stranger things have happened in football.

Here’s to an Arsenal win tomorrow against a shitty team managed by an alleged bung taker. Come on you Gunners!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Categories : Arsenal, Premier League Home games 09/10

« Previous Entries