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First Impressions After The First Match 2007-08-14 09:10:11   I have read some other fans views regarding the home match with Fulham on other blog sites and some I agree with and some I do not understand at all! Of course, the whole stadium were stunned into silence in the first minute by Lehmann's terrible miskick right into the path of David Healey who scored probably one of the easiest goals of his career!  I thought Arsenal's defence seem to pass back the ball to their keepers more than any other premiership defence - a tactic which I am not really in favour of and which only works if the goalkeeper and his defenders are always on the same wavelength - this time the goalkeeper was obviously on another planet! Unfortunately,our defenders continued with this strategy right through the match tempting another disaster! Like most of the fans in the stadium (and after the usual very late substitutions from Wenger), I had more or less given up hope of us even snatching a draw when the countdown sho ...

Is Arsene Being Sneaky? 2007-08-14 08:48:24 This, as you see, is a very short post. But it has to be said.  I can't believe what I am hearing regarding Gilberto finding out he had been stripped of the captaincy on the internet at Arsenal.com when he got home after he had been at the training ground with Arsene during the day.  OK so I am being a bit overdramatic with the word ‘stripped' seeing as the new permanent successor to TH14 as captain had not been officially announced, but you know what I mean. If it is true then I just can't work Arsene out at all. I have made my feelings clear with regard to Gallas being made captain ahead of both Gilberto and Kolo, but had naturally assumed that Arsene had talked it through with the guys involved and everyone was happy. But, as I wrote in my ‘An amazing decision' blogpost the other day, I hoped the players didn't feel as shitty as I did about the decision, but it now would appear that perhaps at least one does. What on earth is ...

A Open Letter To Ian Wright 2007-08-14 05:14:56   Dear Wright, I really think it is time the club considers dismembering you from the Arsenal family, once and for all. I have had it with your negative rants against Arsenal, a club which has so much respect for him. Arsenal may win the title, it may not. But as part of the Arsenal family, we expect you Ian to make the right sounds about it in public. There is no need for you to add to the naysayers when the entire world seems damned to believe that Arsenal is going down the drain. History of your statements in the press have been as rubbish and damning to the club morale. It can never be forgiven that he publicly came out during SWP’s transfer and said that if he were in his son’s position, he would join Chelsea. I respect what you think is good for your son, Ian. But you don’t have to come out all the time and blabber about how it is better to join a title rival. And now we all know what it has done to his career. "If my son wants to play for Sp ...

Scripting Thrillers- The Good, The Bad And The Ugly 2007-08-14 04:36:39 Arsene in the post match conference talked about how such a late victory could change our season. I really hope it does since we looked pretty ordinary out there against Fulham. I have seen many matches when Arsenal keep shooting and don’t score. But there was one thing unique to this match. Fulham was creating chances at will, expecially in the second half and hence, we never held the high line in defence that we generally manage to hold just some yards of the half line. There were many instances that the attacks by Fulham, which were essentially on the break, were keeping us close to our D. This is what frightens me the most. And I for one do not think it is a coincidence that goalkeepers come up with ‘great’ performances against us. If you look at our chances and see the number of shots towards the near post it is astounding. At this level, I don’t think we can expect keepers to be bet at their near post. (Exception- Almunia, especially when he is ...

I Agree With Sanchez! 2007-08-13 10:59:41   Well some of what he says anyway. I agree that if a player goes down theatrically in the box, if it's not a penalty - it must be simulation. Actually that's not strictly true, because someone can actually trip over his own feet as the Fulham geezer did in our box. Were you listening to Five Live's commentary? They reckoned Cesc tripped him - albeit accidentally. What's the matter with these commentators - are they blind? And Pleat is a dozy pratt, he really is. When is he going to realise that Clichy is spelt Clichy and not Cliché.  So I think in the end both Fulham and Arsenal got exactly what they deserved.  Fulham enjoyed some success going forward and possibly merited the minor admiration given them from Arsene - but finished up with sod all. Serves them right cos' that Healy bloke was surely offside when the pass was made out to him. Shouldn't the linesman have flagged therefore when he picked up Jens's stupid at ...

Which Game Did Sanchez Watch? 2007-08-13 05:04:12   Was I at the same game yesterday that Lawrie Sanchez watched? I appreciate that managers have to protect their team and I know AW occasionally makes comments that are far from the truth but Sanchez's claims are just utter nonsense. I must admint that there may have been a couple of occasions when even we gooners felt that Hleb and Van Persie could possibly have stayed on their feet for longer but there were no blatent dives. I'm not being biased here. When one of our players dives, I will put my hands up and say so (Eboue in the Champions League final!!!) but I saw nothing like that yesterday. I got home in time to see The Last Word on Sky Sports and I watched Match Of The Day 2 both of which confirmed to me that Hleb was fouled in the first half and it was a blatent penalty. Andy Gray tried to do his drawings to show that the Fulham defender got all of the player and none of the ball. Then in the second half when their soccer star bo ...

Early Days…. 2007-08-12 15:58:53   Joy - 3 points, but it must be said only after 84 minutes of painful; "oh shite it's last year all over again" running over and over in my head. Now though it’s a sunny California afternoon and I’ve been thinking about the games I’ve just witnessed and thought I’d put some thoughts up on the site. It's been a greedy football weekend in the Château due Grimbo with the wife relegated to the bedroom TV and myself well and truly glued to the screen after such a LONG time without Footy. Thusly the viewing shenanigans that screwed many of you over back there in Blighty, totally played in my favour with Fox Soccer Channel (yes I hate the word, but it’s what the channel is called) playing the Arse game here when originally they were not…….albeit it must be said at 4am (yawn) - and what a game – boring it was not. But first onto others. I watched the Hammers vs. Citeh game first on Saturday and followed ...

Fulham Match Report: Apologise, Sanchez 2007-08-12 11:15:51   The problem with going a goal down is that it allows the other team to sit back, defend, and generally piss around wasting time. Deep into the second half of today's game against Fulham, Arsenal fans were dreading a disastrous start to the season. Not only were we dropping points to a team we should beat weak in, weak out, but we were not in sufficient control of the game against a mediocre side. The team showed tremendous spirit in the final ten minutes to grab the win, and we should be absolutely delighted with the 3 points (as celebrations in the ground showed), but there are one or two matters for concern that have arisen from today's game: (I'm not going to include Jens' hideous error - it was rare, unique, and although it swung the game early on, there's no point thinking about it). 1. We don't resemble champions From the word go we looked nervous. Watch Chelsea or Man Utd (or even Liverpool) and you will see a confidence in the way ...

Wheels Almost Buckle Nnder Wenger’s Flimsy Express 2007-08-12 08:46:18   The tone was set in the first minute and it was one we've seen so many times before. Arsenal shoot themselves in the foot and spend the rest of the match chasing the game. At least three points were put on the board, but this looks like being another long, hard season. The positives: Hleb looks at home in the shadow striker role, and for me was man of the match. Sagna looks a secure right back and his partnership with Eboue is extremely promising, whilst Flamini gave his best performance for Arsenal, though still lacks the ability to hold the midfield together. The negatives: The old problems remain. Apart from missing too many chances, Arsenal do not look secure at the back. Gallas and Toure do not look like a rock solid and are still relying on their speed rather than positional sense to clear any danger. The midfield does not have enough width on the left side and Lehmann has gone from being eccentric to a complete liability. There are some players to return, ...

Oh Dear Martin! 2007-08-12 08:42:35   Day one of the new season over and what have we learnt from Saturday's Premier League  games? I have only managed to watch two games - the Spuds and the Pool. Of course realistically it's too early to make any judgements but I am prepared to stick my neck out and make a few of predictions: 1/ Sunderland will be relegated. (Apart from when Michael Chopra came on they looked totally incapable of scoring a goal - even against a ponderous and static Spuds defence.) 2/ The Sillywhites haven't a chance of Champions League football next season.(They were utterly hopeless) 3/ Martin Jol will be lucky to survive the season with his job intact. (His tactical ability is zero.) 4/ Ryan Babel will score plenty of goals for the Pool - and I wish we had signed him. (Why the hell didn't we - he wanted to come to us for heaven sake!) 5/ The Pool will finish in the top three.(Their defence is excellent and they now look to have some goal ...

Arsenal V Fulham - Preview 2007-08-11 16:06:53   What can we expect? Fulham or the pirated version of the Northern Ireland national team have done some heavy spending by the Cottagers' standards. But was the money spent wisely? Well, I have never seen some of them play since players like Cook, Healy etc. have come from lower divisions. Lawrie Sanchez has been quoted as saying he will play 4-4-2 but I really doubt he would be so adventurous first day of a new season away at Emirates. I expect a hardworking 4-5-1 formation with long balls being peppered to Brian McBride or Kamara whosoever plays. Lawrie Sanchez loves playing long ball and physical football but ironically some of the players in Arsenal may give a more physical game. Christanval, Zat Knight, Konchesky and Hughes should be the back four with lack of pace being their biggest problem. A hardworking midfield of Diop, Bullard, Davis in the centre with Davis and Volz in the wings might try to crowd us out. But I really do not see a physical presence barri ...

Risky, Arsene, Very Risky 2007-08-11 03:26:47   I am very perplexed and unhappy at Johann Dourou going to Brum till January, when presumably he will be back to cover for Kolo. If we discount the new guy Nordtveit (and you have to as he has only just turned 17), I think we are worryingly short of centreback cover. We now only have Philip Senderos as proper backup for Kolo and Gallas (now that Connolly has gone to Colchester). No problem if they all stay injury and discipline free, but its taking one hell of a risk in my opinion. Sure we have guys who can play at centre back in an emergency - Gilberto, Sagna, even Justin Hoyte - but the key word is ‘emergency'.  We hardly want to break up the flanks and midfield if things are going well when we normally have such good cover. Perhaps Johann particularly asked for more first team action - and it will do him no end of good playing every week in the Birmingham side - but I still think it's a bit risky, especially as our new captain hasn't the bes ...

A Salute To RVP - His Best Goals? 2007-08-10 08:21:50   With only 2 days before our first Premiership fixture of the new season there's still plenty going on in the news from the Arsenal camp. As we build up to that first match on Sunday I thought we could have a look at some fine goals from the guy who hopefuly is going to save our ass this season - Robin Van Persie. We have picked what we think our his top 13 goals so far - have a look and let us know what you think. We salute you RVP and wish you well for the road ahead and let's hope we see plently more of these over the next few months. (Thanks to RonitC for the Van Persie goal compilation) ...

Eh?! Djourou To Birmingham?!?! 2007-08-10 07:13:40 My first reaction after hearing that Djourou was one of shock and bewilderment. And my reaction now is one of err… shock and bewilderment. Arsenal now have 3 recognised centre backs in Gallas, Senderos and Toure and if we have half as many injuries this season as we have had in the past 2 then we shall be severely stretched at the back. I honestly cannot understand what Wenger has done here (at least Djourou will be back in January when Toure departs for the African Nations) and one can only believe he has something up his sleeve, which could include: a) Gilberto will now be used as a centre back as well as a defensive midfielder. This makes sense considering the strength we have in the middle of the park but if I remember correctly Gilberto didn't impress when played at centre back last season. b) Diarra is coming in from Chelsea to either relegate Gilberto to centre back (see above) or play in defence. c) Arsene is about to sign a new centre back. Out of those ...

An Amazing Decision! 2007-08-09 11:38:16   William Gallas has the honour of becoming the captain of Arsenal FC. It's no surprise that within minutes of the announcement, the blogs have been buzzing overtime. What on earth is the reason behind this curious decision by Arsene? Even if Gallas had just completed a brilliant first season on the pitch. Even if he had not made several unpleasant comments including criticism of the clubs physio's, the young players and Arsene's buying policy. And even he could speak bloody English - he would still be an unpopular choice amongst the fans. An amazing decision indeed. Also it's a really nasty sock in the eye for both Gilberto and Kolo. I must admit that I thought it a bit odd that all of a sudden Gallas surprisingly started saying good things about the club and the team for the first time since he has been here. Now maybe it's beginning to make sense - perhaps Arsene had already made the decision a month back. Please don't let the reason be s ...