So this is it then, the quarter final of the Champions league, the sort of game that the spuds can only dream of.
This time last year we screwed up at the Grove by having all the possession, but no killer instinct, granted the ref helped Liverpool, but we have to expect that, we have to play our own game and go for an early goal, if we do that, they will panic, because we have an away goal and they will come out.
The best way of ensuring qualification is to win both games, it’s not like we are playing Barcelona or Bayern Munich, we are playing one of the two sides that everyone wanted, tonight we should get a win under our belts and make the return game less fraught.
It seems that we will be starting with Theo out on the right wing and Nasri on the left, that should leave Denilson in the middle with Cesc and my feeling is he will play with 5 in midfield, so that means Song or Diaby, if fit I expect Diaby as he offers a more physical presence, and he knows where the goal is.
The back four pick themselves so that means Sagna, Kolo, Gallas and Clichy with Almunia in goal and Ade alone up front.
So more or less the same team that beat Man City, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. We have to keep it tight at the back which means the midfield must keep possession, do that and let nature take it’s course.
If we keep the ball it stops them scoring, if they don’t score, they won’t win, if we keep possession we can score, we can surprise them by frustrating them, then one killer pass from Cesc and bang, it’s all over.
It reminds me of one General James Wolf and when king George sent him to Canada to kick the French out in 1759, they had an impressive fortress called Quebec, we parked our Navy in the Saint Lawrence river and as they had home advantage they just sat back waiting for us to make the mistake of attacking them.
Wolf took his cannons and his entire army and scaled the impossible heights of Abraham at night and when the French under General Montcalm woke up, the entire British army was behind them, two hours of silly French attacking saw Wolf win the match and Canada was back in the hands of King George, Wolf knew how important away goals were, so he got a bunch of them. He did what they didn’t expect.
For Montcalm read Robert Pires and for General Wolf it’s the dashing Cesc Fabregas, Wenger is King George and Canada the Champions league.
Unfortunately Wolf lost his life in that battle, but his last words were ‘thank God I have done my duty’ this was repeated 46 years later by Horatio Nelson, Nelson so loved the picture of Wolf’s final moments, he commissioned the same artist to paint his own demise, really, that’s all true, he even used Wolf’s famous words.
So the moral of this story is we need to surprise them, do what they don’t expect and attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, do that and the day is ours, and then we can start to think about playing Porto in the semis, so Cesc, go and do your duty and we’ll thank God.
Have a great night tonight Grovers, this will be our day, I can feel it, the Arsenal will go to Spain all guns blazing.
Greetings Earthlings
boom!
ha ha
Franchise!!!!
ed atom too late to apologise…. tooooo laaaaaaaaaaaaate
I lost out again….morning all.
4-1 to us tonight Ade quad trick get in there
Ok I see Pedro has woken up! I’m off for a bit and will return.
Quick Draw Franchise…..howz tricks? orning everyone
Peaches!!!! if u wanna shoot shoot dont talk
Thanks Pedro for uploading today’s post..
Good stuff Geoff, I have to say I agree in places, otherwise, excellent as always..
Cheers!
Great post,
I think Wenger confirmed that Diaby is out.
Today is a great day for some Arsenal football.
This is one of those matches that you wait all year for.
How would you like it if I hit you with a 59….
Would you like it like that….real fast real slow what what what…
Let’s do them submarines eh!!!
How is the weather prediction in Spain today? Mainly in Villareal.
goog post Geoff…….Arsenal to win 3-1
good post Geoff, Arsenal to win 3-1
Sorry about the late post… I got caught up in the excitement of a I.T conversation!
Top post Geoff!
What an exciting start to the week! A nice little win here will be invaluable on all fronts. I really think we’ll win something this year… being in competition in April is a bit of a new thing for us!
I’m going for a 2-0 win… as long as we aren’t complacent, I think we’ll beat them.
I fucking love that post.
1-1. We’ll do them at Emirates.
Will this day bring about the brace? could go 4-0 or 2-1…
ahh 4 -0 with ade, cesc, walcott and nasri scoring would doo
I have a good feeling about tonight’s game too. It’s coming at just the right time for us. We’re on a good run and are getting players back in the team fully fit.
Come on Arsenal!!! http://thenorthbank.wordpress.com
“…the sort of game that the spuds can only dream of.”
CLASSIC!!!
Going for a narrow 1-0 victory with Ade to pop up and slot one in. We will win at the Emirates and then Bring on Porto! Cant see Utd slipping up though.
Geoff sneakily left a prediction in the post Da vinci code style
fiver than franchise?
fiver than franchise?
double post grrr
early brace
Fran, want to crack it for us? Didn’t notice it
Hey, I’m liking your military based posts Geoff – and you even included the name of one of my favourite tracks of all time (“All guns Blazing”, Judas Priest, Painkiller(1990) )in the title.
As I was saying to Steve yesterday, I’ll have the Peroni’s lined up as I have the house to myself tonight and ITV4 will be the place to watch us sink the yellow submarines…dive, dive senors !.
Wenger on Bobby Pires.
“Personally, I wanted to keep him,” said Wegner. “He wanted to go because he wanted a longer contract than one year and you know our policy.
“Also he wanted to play. You know many players here feel the pressure every day of the young players who are ready. It’s not easy to take. You look behind you and you see what’s coming behind is strong.
“So I believe that he decided to go. He was aware that he would not definitely be automatically first choice. I can understand that. He was at the stage of his career where he wanted to play regularly and, at 33, to come in and out, it’s difficult. Don’t forget, he’s almost 36 now.
“But he is someone who I would have loved to have stayed longer. He was such an example, him and Dennis Bergkamp. They were quite similar. You give them a ball and they could have stayed out there on the training pitch the whole day.”
Jay that was a da vinci code style hat-trick
haha indeed… Arite time to get my lift home talk soon
Will be happy with a 1-1, but believe we can edge it.
I think they will put it up to us, particularly in the first half. Our younger legs should catch them in the second half.
Can we take our chances ? That is the big question.
Song to start. Diaby to come on.
BTW, dud anyone notice another Brum player made a leg breaking tackle on an oppo forward last night ? It seems McLeish insists on a quota of these per season to keep up their “good, honest, pro” attitude. As the player who was stretchered off was a Brit the commentators condemned the tackle unlike when Eduardo was felled.
i’ll give u clues
spirit of 59
one of the two sides
5 in midfield
back 4
1759
46 years
2 hours
Fran, that confused me even more
Yeah im a bit stumped on that one:(
Did anyone see Birmingham’s Lee Carsley’s horror tackle on Wolves’ Chris Iwelumo? It brought back memories of Martin Taylor’s leg breaking tackle on Eduardo, and you could be forgiven for thinking his rednose bum licking manager would come out against such ugly challenges……zero chance!
What a post to get us all fired up for the game tonight!!
I don’t think that tonights game will be easy for us. I think Wenger will tell them all to go and play wengerball and frustrate them more than anything and when they start coming onto us like some drunk horny chick in a nightclub we will pounce. 2-1 to the Arsenal i say
lol……Chary!
Yeah that carsley tackle was fucking disgusting!!If you look closely in teh background, one of the brum players gasps as he knows what his teammate has just done. I cant believe the birmingahm players were SHOCKED when the red card came out.
That tackle was pure and utter filth! He said after the game that it “was just a late tackle” i am sorry a late tackle is a late tackle, a tackle at knee height is just plain thuggery!!!
morning all..
big big game today… m pschyed… Cmon Arsenal!!!
1-5 Franchise?
Great post Geoff
Unfortunately both channels here are showing the manure v porto game live
. So its going to have to be a link from on here if i watch it live, or watch it delayed @ 6.30am on fox.
evo…………..you got a link mate?????????????
COME ON U REDS!!!!!!!
It was verging on crime, thats how bad it was! I seriously couldnt believe it. Wolves have said the poor guy hasnt broke his leg. Im glad for him. Birmingham have done enough damage to strikers careers for a while!!!!!
Voderman has played around with those nos and she came up with 3-0 to the team in red
dont ask me how she did it im just her lover
Could be a similar tale to the Turkey shoot. Quick breaks involving Theo & Ade, etc. Can’t wait
The result of the Black country derby means that, unfortunately, we are more likely to see McCleish’s rabble of knuckle scrapers back in the Premiership next season.
Looking on the up side we can do our bit(by taking 6 points off them) to send the c**ts back down again. Perhaps we can get Diaby to beak Taylors leg back. It would be justice.
Lucky you Franchise – I always fancied Carol V.
well chary some of us do have em’
Wolves are still top.
I quite like trips to the Midlands. It’s an away trip but can get home in 2 1/2 hours. I hope Wolves, Reading, and Birmingham come up and we lose all that North east shit from the prem.
Sorry that was another sweeping generalisation.
I meant, all those twunts from north of Yorkshire.
Well Steve, I can probably make it to Midlands games in 1 ½ – 2 hours – less time than it takes me to get to the Grove, but I’d never have enough bottle to go to away games. Too scary, I mean the high-pitched whinging midlands accents more than any possibility of fisticuffs.
I wouldn’t mind Burnley coming up. I think that they are a very respectable club. After we beat them (finally) they didn’t come out and blame the ref or Cesc for spitting it was just a well played and good luck thing.
I hope they all go down because I’m fed up with the pundits telling us all the time they are the best fans in the world, they’re all cunts, as soon as they are losing, they leave their grounds.
The weather here is mixed, but still as cold as England in the evening.
And don’t forget here, it’s on at 8.45pm
Geoff are you at the game tonight then??
The midfield contest tonight should be intense. Denilson would come face to face with one of the best in the business Senna
Who on here is actually going or in Spain and going to the game tonight?
i think that most of their game plan will be around not giving Cesc any time on the ball at all. Hopefully that will leave Theo and Ade to run the game as long as Theo can find the final ball we should be ok.
Geoff
I think it would be a good laugh if newcastle go down.
I like T Buzz’s latest funnies entry.
Ok all. Have a great day. I hope it goes quickly for you all. ofcourse we get a sleep here so it helps time to fly. See u tomorrow morning on here. May God be with The Arsenal
chary, i went to nearly every away game for about 10 years before the kids came and I can count on 1 hand the amount of times we had a proper ruck.
Clacko I’m in Spain, it’s my last night but a 3 or 4 hour drive and I need to drink for this one! So I’ll be watching it on TV.
Gnarley I’ll go and look.
…..& the spirit of The Wolfman
If we’re talking who we’d like to go down I’d elect: Blackburn, Stoke and Bolton – all bruising, anti-football based teams. Sadly West Brom are already down so it’ll be 2 spaces free – which I’d give to Stoke and Blackburn; although if Hull or the bar codes were to go down I’d be happy too.
Also, it will be St Totteringham’s day on Saturday as long as we beat Wigan. Get ready to text your Spud acquaintances with this fact at the weekend guys.
I have just found out something quite literally gut wrenching! Pretty much all of the pubs in my area are showing the fucking manc game!!!
I need to put in a call to my mate that manages one of them and see if he can get it changed to the Arsenal game. He fucking better!
Where do you live Clacko?
Yeah, Steve, I suppose the worst you get at away games is verbals nowadays. I may try the away day experience at some stage then. Possibly Reading, if they come up as that is fairly close to me.
You’ll be lucky to get tickets chary. We only get 2,500 there and they are on a loyalty basis. Unless you get them in the Reading end.
My mate gets involved in all that at West Ham… they do it miles away from the ground because a 3 year banning orders isn’t worth it…
its annoying the amount of audience given to the fucking mancs. we have played on the same days in the CL with those fuckers for the whole campaign. If the games are on Tuesday’s we always are on ITV4 and the Mancs on ITV1. Why are we so hated? We need to win the cup double to upset those fuckers. I bet there would be some suicides if we do.
Steve i live in Swindon mate.
Jut spoke to him, it’s all good he is getting the Arsenal game put on
If you ever see Melinda Messenger grab her tits for me.
Yeah it dosen’t happen at stadium anymore, each club has a place far away with less CCTV cameras and they organize “meetings” there.
That’s the other thing, Steve, at most grounds the allocation would mean I stand bugger all chance of getting tickets. I do remember seeing certain away games(generally for the northern hell-hole type venues) being on sale to red members this season though. Oh well, one day.
Mate i happily would but she don’t live here now. She fucked off to the cotswolds and Bille Piper is somewhere, couldn’t really give a toss about her though, she has only ever looked fit on Top gear wearing that see through top!
Morning all,
you can’t beat it. The anticipation of a CL Match and a History lesson free of charge from the most educational blog on the net (copyrighted)
Tell me about it Duke… trying to organize these rucks is tough these days… but we manage it.
So… who is daring to make a prediction for tonight?
I think it’s going to be tougher than we expect… maybe a 1-0 win…
Score draw Pedro.
2-0 to the Arsenal Gallas first goal
Clacko, Billie Piper looks like a wide mouth frog.
I love Melinda’s tits. I’d almost move to Wilts just to be near them. Well, maybe not. But they are great tits.
In all fairness to the girl, her arse aint too dusty either.
But I also like Billie Piper’s arse.
I’m rambling now aren’t I?
Pedro im with u on that one. it would be tough. but u never know. theo’s pace is gonna be key. we need to get their full backs carded early on. Cesc’s free roaming role would also be key. I think in terms of attacking Cesc, Theo and Ade have to be on top of their game
Seems like you are firming up there Steve lol
Franchise, I was reading the comments section of another blog last night and they were all saying Eboue should start ahead of Theo!
Steve, I thought Billie Piper was minging until I saw her in the prostitute diary thing…
That my friend, is worth a watch… alone.
Just trying to keep my mind off tonight old son. Fucking hate evening kick offs. Just spend all day thinking about it.
great post. I heard it’s raining in villarreal tonight, raining arsenal goals
3-0 to the good guys
Arsenal Arsenal Arsenal woohooooo,is it me or is time so slow today,i want a piece of those villareal wankers.
Pedro, my missus watched that so I had a little peek. She must be the only prostitute in the world that never got her kit off.
dan, that’s handy mate. We can sink the yellow submarine.
Fuck me I’m good.
Pedro, can’t be said better about Billie and the prostitute diary show.
cant wait to goto bed to wake up again for the game!
Pedro i bet the reason they gave was cos Eboue is more defensive. With Den/Song in front of the defence we shouldnt need any player who is too defensive out wide.
Hello All,
Talking about Villa’get’real and our penatly hero from last time, i really miss him….(although not in such form)
http://www.soccerblog.com/2009/04/lehmann_dives_into_his_own_goa.htm
They were just spanking off over Eboue… the AKB crowd. Crowing like we’ve already one the league!
I can’t work out what’s gone on this season… it’s like the quality has dropped… or everyone’s got a bit closer?
You couldn’t say it’s been a stellar year for anyone could you?
franchise – i hate the mancs as much as u do haha
and do u know of the tv cartoon the tick..
ur av looks like it would fit right in..
Pedro i must admit that was a good show, well it wasn’t but you know what i mean
I am pretty sure Diaby is not even in the squad, so I cant see him playing in place of Song. song will start. I agree that nasri will simply replace Arsh and we will go with how we played against City.
we need to be careful tonight. do not under estimate Villreal. they are trained to keep the ball and pass under pressure. the fact they have lost carzola may even make them more dangerous. whoever replaces him will be trying to prove that he should be in the team.
Its like RVP and Denilson being injured and then the Villareal fans getting all excited because we are weak. how do you think Eduardo and Ramsey would want to play if they came in? there are always quality players to come into top teams – and pelligrini is no fool.
I expect a very low scoring affair and would take a 1-0 now with pleasure.
Pedro most of the players that were tops last year have suffered this year. Overall IMO Liverpool have been the best side in the league. They are hardly taken unaware by opposing teams. they seem to be the most cohesive side.
Our own problems were self made. we didnt have a good enough squad with deficiencies in key areas. Other teams like Mancs and Chelsea to an extent have just been scraping through. Liverpool on the other hand cant play without Gerrard and Torres.
Its been a queer year
I’m literarily tearing my nappy air out as I’m marooned in Dubai on a business trip and I can’t figure out where to watch the match. Does anyone on here know the city well enough to know a good watering hole that carries a bias for Gooners? Help!
I miss mad jens too.
Villareal would try to play the away goal game over two legs they might set up to hit us on the break but i doubt they have the forwards to achieve this. Rossi is a tricky forward but i dont expect either him or llorente to cause us any troubles
Nihat is back from injury
Hello all, we are going to win big tonight, 3-1 for me
Sagna and Clichy have maintained a good level. Apart from small dips.
Franchise, i’m with you mate. I reckon Villareal would take a 0-0 tonight.
That tackle by carsley was disgraceful
even worse was that sweaty saying “he’s hard but fair”
ring any bells.
I don’t think that Clichy has been the player he was last year. He was tops last year and only made a few errors but this season he has made a lot more mistakes. I don’t know, it has been a strange season. At times we have looked like they have all grown up together and then at other times they have looked like they have no idea who their own team mate is.
I would love us to get a bit of silverware this season but kinda feel that if we didn’t then it’s not like we didn’t deserve it if ya know what i mean. if we win something we must be the only team in history to actually weaken our team over the close season and still win a trophy!
How tha fuck did all tha other clubs not get wind on Sagna,dont they have scouts?
i do miss Jens too. Not necessarily for hi keeping ability but he was funny as fuck to watch haha
Clacko, he only had a bad spell when he had no regular player in front of him. It must be difficult when you have players in front of you that shouldn’t be there.
the one score (outher than a pounding for us) is 0-0.
think we’d tense up in the home leg (like we did when Chelsea equalised at Highbury in the QFs in 04)
Clichy is brilliant but he had a few horrible moments thi season. However, he aint the only one. THAT Slip at home to spurs when Jenas went and curled it in seconds later. God i hated that night.
morning all
Steve is right… when you give the ball to Eboue… make an 80 yard run… and then he loses it… you’ve got to run all the way back and if a goal is scored, you are the one who is out of position.
Now the pair of them know that if Nasri has the ball, he is unlikely to lose it… the same with Arshavin… that allows them to attack more freely.
I am worried about sagna’s fitness.The guy hasnt got rest for god knows how long.With tough games coming one after another it might prove too much for him.I hope wenger rests him against wigan.Eboue can do a good job there.
Im worried denilson and song would look out of depth in tonights game
My bet is on nasri to score a goal.He has played really well in most of our big games.Nasri and walcott will play a key role today
I hope we get through tonight with no further injuries and a win (score draw would be ok) Wenger will mix it up against wigan on saturday. Hopefully diaby and eduardo are back, RvP to.
Not in a 5 man midfield they won’t Franchise. It’s a perfect set up for a game like tonight.
The whole el madrigal factor wont make much of a difference either.If they can hold their nerves in the stab city this shouldn’t be a problem
I do feel for Clichy because it has taken them tiemm to gel this season for whatever reason and when you actually look at the way in which both of the full backs play they do both bmb forward. I think that’s probably why Wenger told them earlier on to hold back more and then after a few game sof finding the right team they were allowed to go again. Still though Clichy has also given the ball away himself more this season but that may be because he didn’t feel comfortable making the easy pass because of who it would have been to maybe??
Hope so Steve
Carlos vela is there in the squad right?
Morning, morning!
Geoff – great post! But just how old are you to be able to remember something that happened in 1759?
Even when Diaby is injured and ruled out,geoff still wants him to replace song..maybe arsene should put diaby in a wheel chair and roll him on to the pitch to please the old racist.
Vela is in the squad Nishanth. Maybe we will see him later on into the match.
AW played bedner in midfeild in CL…so tht could also b a possibility..ade can play 90mins
Training Pics from yesterday
http://www.daylife.com/photo/09Kz77s1eEbvR?q=arsenal+training
My gut feeling is that this will be a draw 1-1 it will be a tight game, anything more then that then it will be a bounus.
BTW Does anyone know of any pubs in north lon that show “live” gooner matches @ 3pm when we are not on tv
that place in mill hill has closed down
on either wing i dont remember the exact position
CHIBUZOR, Geoff is racist… replacing a black player with a black player… it doesn’t get worse than that!
Unless you meant racist towards white people?
hi all, to excited & cant wait.. prediction
3-0 … ade, denilson and (song) hehehe
Further proof of how much the Spuds trail in our wake was that report on brand values in football shows we are worth 3 times more than the Spuds (£201m compared to £66m) and 5th overall, behind the usual suspects, Barca, Franco’s team, Bayern and the Manskummers.
They really are the Tiny Totts.
Geoff is racist towards white people.
He called me a honky once.
Anyway, the pub is open and i’m excited. See you chaps later.
You are a honky…
Great post geoff, I hope we do our best tonite, so that the element of surprise you talk about is not toward us from the yellow submarine.
Wenger spelt out, in the strongest terms yet, why he has had to go for the cheap option and develop young players.
It is purely down to the £400m cost of the Emirates Stadium, where the north Londoners moved to after that defeat in Paris.
He explained: “The decision was to go for more youth when we decided to build a new stadium because we were not in a position where we could spend £30m or £40m on players. It’s as simple as that.
“Whether people accept it or not is one thing, but today we have a good side, we make profit and we pay our debtors back.
“In a modern world, people are scandalised when banks lose money but I’m scandalised when football clubs lose money. For me, it’s the same process.
“I’m not against spending money, I’m against losing money.
“When you build a stadium, we decided to go for a youth policy and it has benefits like bringing through young players, they develop a spirit together.”
Basic maths
Faceman, I think that article is pretty old and I think anyone who has followed the whole stadium thing understands that we started earning money on the stadium earlier than projected.
That was the whole point… Wenger had a five year plan with the kids, but half way through he had money to spend… the dilemma was whether to spend or persist with project youth… he persisted.
So it’s not really basic math… it’s digging up an old story that isn’t relevant any more.
He’s had money and he’s had it for a while… he just chooses not to spend…
If you want some more basic math…
http://tinyurl.com/6f8v99
Danny Fiszman is the guy who runs the show. He’s probably better placed than anyone to tell you there is money to spend.
Like a Boss
http://tinyurl.com/djyt83
There is some more basic math… again, from someone who used to do the Gazidis job and masterminded the move…
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/pires-pic
Pedro, they were quotes taken from Wenger at yesterdays press conference.
So you were wrong, again