So first things first. Does it irritate anyone else that the league is so badly organised that we still have a game in hand dating back to September? Does it really take that long to squeeze the extra game in? It’s ridiculous… I hate looking at the league table talking about our position if we do happen to win our extra game.
Onto the match…
Almunia
Eboue Gallas Vermaelen Silvestre
Diaby Song Denilson
Eduardo Arshavin Nasri
The team lined up pretty much as I had expected. Almunia has clearly turned into the undroppable keeper, which was unsurprising considering the excuse Wenger made for his Liverpool mistake. In midfield, I would have preferred to have seen Ramsey in there, but I could understand his omittance as he often goes missing if he’s played from the start… and up top, I couldn’t argue. Walcott rightly dropped after some atrocious performances… the rest of the players were all we had left!
Arsenal started off nervously, Diaby mis-timed a slide tackle which allowed Fagan to hit a low and hard shot at Almunia’s goal. Luckily it was wide of the post by a yard or so.
Our first chance came from Diaby. Eduardo played the ball to Nasri who neatly teed up the Frenchman, who hit a powerful shot at the leg of the Hull defender, out for a corner.
Eduardo and Nasri combined again when the Croatian found his team mate free in the box. The best the Frenchman could do was shoot at Myhil.
Arsenal were looking a little clueless again. If in doubt, hit the wings and fire high balls into the box seemed to be the preferred tactic again.
The game needed a spark and sure enough, Nasri was on hand to provide it in the form of a 200lbs firework. A freekick was awarded after a challenge on Hunt. As the ref had his back to Nasri, the Frenchman cheekily stamped on Garcia’s foot. Hunt hit the deck like he’d been floored by Tyson, Barmby came flying over shoving Nasri in the face… que carnage. After a few minutes of handbags, the ref consulted his linesman and awarded Nasri and Hunt a yellow card each. Lucky Nasri! He’ll now avoid a video arbitration.
After the fight, Hull started getting silly. Zayyate challenged wildly on Vermaelen, then shortly after Barmby and the same player double teamed Diaby and conceded another freekick. Denilson stepped up and from 35 yards slotted it into the far left of the goal. A pearler of a free kick. Arsenal went in at half time 1-0 up!
As the players headed into the tunnel, the childish arguments continued. There were even some rumours that hood man Cesc was involved again! Kevin Keegan and Moritz Volz spoke about how soft the free kick was at half time but I couldn’t disagree more. Neither Hull player won the ball and I was unaware that double teaming a player to win possession was allowed. Stick to the Circus Kev…
Arsenal came out for the second half much better play wise. Eduardo turned on the edge of the box superbly to give himself acres of space… he shot wide. Shortly after the Crozillian gave Diaby the opportunity to shoot inside the box. The shot was crudely hand balled but the ref missed it.
The play moved up the other end, Fagan chased a ball in the box, tussled with Silvestre, fell over and claimed his shirt had been pulled. The ref; conned, pointed to the spot. What a joke. However, the punch line was in the penalty Geovanni took. He ran up slowly, Almunia stood his ground, to watch the Brazillian shoot close enough for Alto parry away. A crucial save from the Spaniard.
Arsenal went up the other end. Diaby did excellently out wide playing a clever one two with Song, the return pass went across the face of goal for the easiest of tap ins for Eduardo.
Fagan continued to do his best impression of Wayne Rooney, tearing around like an idiot, shouting and swearing at anyone who’d listen, crucially not picking up a yellow card.
Arsenal were cruising without really creating chances. The coach brought on Rambo for the superb Nasri.
The final goal of the game came from Diaby. He played another one two, this time with Arshavin who patiently waited for the perfect return ball. Diaby strongly held off the challenge and banged it into the top corner.
Walcott managed to get a few minutes on the pitch and went close when he lobbed wide. Ramsey also blazed the ball just over after a superb move. Joe Royle seemed to think the result was flattering… I can only think he’d confused the last word of that sentence with comfortable.
All the ‘poor performance’ talk at full time from the commentary team riled me a bit. I thought we played fine. It wasn’t vintage, but arguing 3-0 was undeserved was picking holes for the sake of it. The female presenter interviewer for ESPN made a class A tit of herself interviewing Arsene at the end… it was quite funny watching Arsene’s face everytime a poor question came out of her mouth. Talking of Wenger, Wrighty7 has his own opinion on what will happen if our coach heads to City.
So in conclusion, a very good performance from everyone on the pitch today. We go into Christmas in a very strong position with a number of other teams. The Villa game now holds extra importance as they seem to be sneeking up the table grinding out good results along the way. It was a pretty crazy day today, Almunia saved a penalty, Diaby had a blinder, Nasri was tough in midfield, Silvestre looked great, Man U lost heavily as did Liverpool… madness!
One can’t help but think United deserved that after Wolves played a reserve team against them last week. If we do eventually win out game in hand, we take second. Today I’ll mostly be backing West Ham and of course, Burnley!
Ratings:
Almunia: Wouldn’t have got a game if they’d let me be selecter for the day. Still, I wont let that statement get in the way of telling you he had a solid game between the sticks and he that he kept a clean sheet… which included a penalty save. 7
Eboue: You know he’s had a good game when there are no key moments in a match that he’s involved in. Hull were pretty impotent for most of the day, so he didn’t have much to do. What he did do was well executed. 7
Gallas: A solid, yet quiet game at the back. 7
Vermaelen: The only difference between Gallas and the Verminator is the Belgian pushed forward when things are quiet. Again, a solid game. 7
Silvestre: It’s time to give up the auto-slag mind set people use on our favourite geriatric. He had a very good game today, even managing to get up top to join in some sparkling moves. 7.5
Diaby: After he started getting the ball from out of his feet a bit quicker, we saw glimpses into what Diaby could become. He was creative, strong, rangey in the tackle. He was involved in all of the goals and he showed what he could do with a bit of application. 8.5
Song: Powerful performance from the man who likes to call himself the first defender. Good passing, tough tackling and some real discipline (Bar the ruck!) today. I was very impressed. 8
Denilson: A guy I was sitting with pointed out that while Denilson doesn’t appear to do much in game, his main role is to hold the space out wide and link the play. When you look at it like that, you can’t argue that he does a good job. He’s not as crash bang as Rambo, but he holds onto the ball well and he has an eye for a pass. His freekick was very well executed and it stuck two fingers up at Wenger’s ‘don’t shoot from distance’ policy. 7.5
Eduardo: He plays in an unfamiliar wide position and does a good job. He created a few openings today and managed to bag a goal. His finishing still lacks the pre-injury confidence, but I’m sure it’ll come. 7.5
Arshavin: A pretty quiet game from the Russian. He doesn’t perform particularly well without Cesc or a pacey forward. He still holds the ball up well and he has the ability to pull a rabbit out the hat… sadly, not today. 7
Nasri: A super game from a player I gave a little bit of stick to last week. It was gutsy innings that combined skill with hard work and tough challenges. His range of passing was excellent today and for once, I was sad to see him leave the pitch! I was very proud of our Frenchman kick starting a brawl… loved it! 8
P.S. I watched Madrid destroy a very poor Zaragoza side yesterday. The finishing was out of this world and M.Diarra was excellent. If he’s on the market for 5mill, he’d certainly be worth a punt and he’d certainly suit the Premier league.
Also, I have no Villa tickets! Hand them over if they’re going spare… I have plenty of takers!
Le Grove is now smart phone compatible!
Pedro
Geoff
Kirin Ichiban…..fucking lethal!!
booommmbastic
was’nt fantastic…off to reads the post.
What a great day! Twitchin ‘arry tax investigation at last..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/19/harry-redknapp-tottenham-tax-hmrc
The very tip of the iceberg, I think!
top 10 ?
Pedro – I’M glad you picked up on that cunt Fagan and all his swearing! I can only assume you’re allowed to call the ref a fucking cunt these days!?!?
Song went up a notch in my book after that ‘fight’ kicked off! he was straight in there dishing it out!! Silvestre too, but you’d always get that from a seasoned pro though and I honestly have no problem with him playing the left back role right now.
Denilson as the future free kick taker, anyone?
top 10
Diaby up top anyone?
At least until RVP/Beny return.
Nice to see some fight back into the team.
Hope west ham can atleast avoid defeat today.Will be a cracking match against villa though
Morning,
Good post.
Wouldnt have marked anyone higher than a 7 though. Vermy was MOTM imo.
We played a thoroughly shit side, and at times descended to their shit level.
Hull turned up just to kick us about all game, Hunt is an effing cnut FACT, and he kept throwing his cnutishness about all game, how that sam the eagle look alike ref didnt send him off is beyond me!
Anyway, we were in 3rd gear all evening, they got an undeserved pen, but we did dominate them.
Let’s be honest tho, they made Silvestre look like roberto carlos, and Al saving pens what is the world coming to?!!
Credit where it’s due great freekick Denilson, about frigging time we scored one!!
hunt for le chump
Morning all. I have to agree with you Pedro, Arshavin does have a good understanding with Cesc and when he’s not there the little Russian does go missing.
Not great performance but then again they cant give great performance everytime, it was a very efficient performance in defence and attack so happy days. The aim is now to stay close or ahead of rivals until Jan when we get at least Bendy back upfront and possible signing upfront.
nishanth Says:
December 20, 2009 at 09:46
hunt for le chump
————————————–
Spot on
Traore and cesc could be back for the villa game.Rosicky too might make it
Diaby’s performance was just as cracking as the article….Its the best feeling to support a team with such a great and unbiased blog….thanx for all the work u put in for our enjoyment
My team for next week. I keep Eboue to deal with there pace.
Fabianski
Eboue Verm Gallas Traore
Song Cesc Diaby Nasri
Eduardo Arshaving
Song right behind the midfield
Great post as always Pedro!
I think Sylvestre was at best a 6. He should have done better with the ball when he had tons of space in their 18 yard box. But he is 4th choice, so you can’t be too critical. Daiby was the MOM today. We just need him to be consistent and stop scoring own goals.
He showed today that the potential is there. Perhaps thats what wenger sees on the traing pitch.
I must say I hope Wenger lets the team know that it’s okay to come into the box and defend after a penalty kick is taken.
wilshere to burnley????? diaby for president???
Fine post Pedro.
The highlight of the game was the fight. I loved that Silvestre was straight into the fracas showing why AW trusts him to chaperone the kids. We stepped up a level after that, and Hull descended into the thugs they are.
It also showed how tough our Russian is.
Come On West Ham…..
I dont care in Wenger plays Santa Clause and his little helpers, We have to win something this year.
Pedro & Geoff,
I apologize for my previous post. I was way out of line. The line between love and hate really is thin sometimes.
I’ll never cut and paste here again, and I’ll try to cut down on the “AKB” links.
It’s great to have a blog where everyone can have an opinion – AKB, IKB or whatever – as long as you love The Arsenal, of course. For that, I thank you.
I like the way we perform when we are leading. Best thing is we didn’t concede a goal. I was getting mad of this.
Also, it was good to see the boss resting Arshavin finally. We will need him to retrieve his lethal finishing of Anfield last year for match against Villa. this could be a decisive match.
Anyways, let’s all hope West Ham can make it today!!!!!!
True Stonroy.
I don’t know which was worse, the penalty miss or the open goal header that followed.
3 of their players wen for the same ball and no-one in the red and white was anywhere near.
No problem Finn Gunn, your opinion on Arsenal are welcome and spot on about love for the club.
Raddy… I didn’t want to say it in the post, but it was poor tracking back from out players. You’ve got to be first to those rebounds!
I agree… the fight was the highlight… it’s nice to see we have that in us!
That Hunt player is a nasty little shit isn’t he? Kind of like a modern day Savage…
Mark Hughes getting sacked… ho ho ho!
Mancini only has such a good record because he has such limited competition when he won his titles…
Morning Pedro – good match report. Great to see the oft criticised (unfairly imo) Denilson and Sylvestre getting some deserved praise. I thought Sylvestre and a storming game down the left.
I really loved yesterday despite the cold. Great to see and feel some passion on the pitch and in the stands in second half.
Bring on Villa. Merry Christmas Grovers and Gooners.
Just saw the United games goals… hahahahahha!
Will Bentner be back against Villa?
great post…
and modest as i am…Song is a far better midfielder than yaya isnt he
Morning… And what a great day it is too!
Hull are a dirty, fouling, cheating bunch of cheats… Managed by a tangoed twat! So, that was effin hilarious to turn em over yesterday..
I was just going to post a word about Silvestre when I saw that Raddy said exactly what I was thinking. People say we need a nasty streak, Nasri was well sly with the step and push. I’m still over the moon about Hughes as well.
Pedro
against United?
That was one of the most bizarre penalty awards in football history. Players, fans, people watching on tv were completely nonplussed.
The ref is clearly part of a far eastern betting ring.
Sorry GM… I’ve amended the comments.
Fergie is a sulky cunt isn’t he?
No press conference after a loss…
Did you see Mick McCarthy? Again… what a cunt…
After his completely unprovoked hack on Stephen Hunt, that went no where near the ball, I have a new found respect for Emmanuel Eboue.
Pedro…
Fergie is slowly starting to accept the facts ,and what we said at the beginning of the season…they where a one man team with ronaldo, and they just doesnt seem to have the players to adapt to a life without him…me i think they are just about to crumble—
I said it yesterday, this game despite being scrappy at times had that 03-04 energy which I’ve missed. So thank you Nasri. Also Diaby Diaby Diaby when will you do this on a regular basis?
STG i think it’s their defence more than their attack which is a worry for them.
This season is really weird. I think we’re rubbish sometimes but the mancs are awful. Even without the defensive “crisis”, I thought the chavs would run away with it but that hasn’t happened and we’re still in touch. I’m looking forward to going to the Villa game. I’ve only ever seen us win, I hope that carries on
Good to see a bit of spitefulness return to the team,we have gone from southern softies to southern thugs,and long may it continue!!!
Good to see Diaby performing, he always seems more effective further up the pitch, instead if the big man in the holding role that I think most people assumed he would end up. I would have liked to se Eduardo more central and Arshavin starting left but really playing off Eduardo.
Song had another good game; he reads the game well defensively and breaks up the play regularly, but we don’t want him on the ball trying to pull the strings, get it and give it for him I think.
Does anyone else wish Phil Brown would ‘go play in the road’?
Also whats the score with Jay Simpson? Is he going to make it at Arsenal?
I think in his first PL match Nasri ran the length of the pitch to kick someone. The boy has a nasty streak in him.
Finally some positive talk mate
Morning all..
Silvestre looked amazing in attack
A very good game, I’m really starting to hate Hull facking city….
Well Mayank you may see rooney and owen as great players i dont..
reggie reg;
Yes mate! I hope we remember to be nasty basterds next game….
Eboue is having one of his best seasons for us. But anyone who wants to play him at the back instead of Sagna in a critical game against a strong team where a moments lapse in concentation can be the difference to winning ………. sorry you’ve got to be on crystal meth.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said..
“It’s time to give up the auto-slag mind set people use on our favourite geriatric”
Sadly I think auto-slag is fixed for many people regardless of what said player does during the game.
Denilson was superb even before his wonderful strike. He quietly goes around winning the ball time and time again and his ability to keep the ball moving without delay was there to see last night.
Diaby had a great second half but Denilson was MOTM for for.
We need to start the game at full pelt against Villa, we have been starting matches in first gear and we will come unstuck against the better sides.
A whole host of injuries and we are still right up there.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
This weekend could be almost as good as last one, IF those pesky Hammers can get a result vs the chavs today…
any news about bendy? will he make it to villa?
Tango man whinging about Nasri should have been red carded for his stamp,them northern softies dont like the warm weather down south do they?
Was an easy and nice win over the cunts.
Fagon = faggot
Brown = sore loser
Hunt = the dickhead
Everyone played really well including Almunia. I will still stick with him as our no.1 because fabianski is not ready yet.
Denilson, Song, Diaby and Nasri was immense!
Eduardo need more games and Silvester did very well at the back, no idea why many arsenal supporters hates him (just bcse an ex-manUtd player??). He was solid and his experience is very crucial for the team.
Overall a great performance and enjoyed it a lot!
Tony re your 10.34 yet there were people on here slagging Silvestre off for the penalty, absolute Twats
Nope gooby, he’s out till the new year
I think Denilson has to start taking them freekicks.
That Fagan of Hull is a right dirty twat… Diving,. cheatin g, swearing and fouling… Wheres the uproar over his dive for the pen?? Or the punch thrown by barmby??? Hmmmmm…
Nasri is a legend! Loved him before that cheeky little toe crusher!
I thought your reflection was fair Pedro, perhaps rating players just a little better than they were. This was a bit of a banana skin game, that we lost last season, against a bigger team of hackers!
We didn’t play vintage but we won, pretty convincingly in the end and it could have been 4 at least 3 times but for weak finishing.
I agree Nasri was good and fought as did Diaby. We were’nt bullied in a game we could have been, which shows they have got a little steele when required.
You have to win games to win the league when you aren’t playing that great, so from that point of view a great win for the Gooners!
Paul, I think the commentators added to the Silvestre slagging… they were slagging him off for a ridiculous tackle… no one could see the actual foul because the replay was in the way.
Please don’t tell me you weren’t thinking the same when you heard it… (You were at the game, so I retract that bit retrospectively)
Meanlean, Denilson man of the match? Diaby, Nasri and Song were all far more impressive for me… a good result heading into the Villa game. I hope the fighting spirit is here to stay and that we can take that into the cold games up north going forward.
Did anyone else hear the ESPN girl ask Wenger if he was disappointed with the challenge Silvestre made?
What an idiot…
highlight of the match was the brawl..those northern cunts think they could mess around with the boys,well pleased to say that the boys have got balls after all..absolutely loved it when Song went straight for c(h)unt throat..
come on west ham…
I’m also well fuming with our game in hand! It’s jokes, it seems normally when we kick off we have two in hand!!! Give me the points any day…
Sat up in the rafters yesterday, right opposite Mr. Wenger. Great view and met some quality old school Gooners. Even my old man fought back the critism to sing about Phil Brown hahaha
The match. Well until the fight I thought Hull were matching us, it was very frustrating. But once the goal was in, even with the Penalty awarded I knew we’d win.
Think our hand was forced with selection but must say mr. Silvestre was our man of the match. Yes i am hungvoer, but thought he had a great game, just what he needed.
Thought we looked short up front. Literally! We needed someone to hold the ball up and bring in the midfield. Still, the lads did well, and thought Diaby’s strength up front in the later stages was excellent.
Roll on the Villa, a truely massive game.
One last thing. Time for a lot more starts for Eduardo. If he’s going to regain his shots to goals ration he needs a run in the side. Preferably up front
Can we hurry the fuck up and just win our effin game in hand please???
6th Jan I think ManGoonian. It’s on general sale
I think it was the first time I saw wenger clap to a build up to ramseys shot. I was dissapointed that it took about 30 secs for any1 to help nasri when 48 hull players were grabbing him. Where’s the team work boys!!!
The post penalty reaction from our players was really annoying. If the header had gone in, I think the defenders would have deserved a week’s wage deduction.
Great overview Pedro.
As for the penalty, which as not IMO, Hull were given a lifeline, & stuffed it. Once that did head, sorry 2 dickheads missed Gio & Hunt the rebound Hull were a mere joke & there was no where for them to hide or no reason for them to whinge. Hull will go down, & when they do, the penalty miss from a gift by the ref will ring louder than a marshall stack. Piss off you never will be’s. Stick to Thugby League
Thanks GM, but I was kinda being sarcasrtic!
It was never a penalty… Really piss poor decision, which was probably given thanks to the dive and histrionics of that cunt Fagan…
And I thought Eboue was excellent at RB and his crossing and forward passes were top too….
Well done EE!
Diaby was inspiring to the other players coz of his robustness (is that a word
) well you know what I mean. Well done that man I say.
Mangoonian, definitely not a penalty
I really, really, really, really hope Le Gaffer tops up in January.
Almunia is rubbish usually but he saved the pen and had a decent game.
Well, that’s Diabys good game out of the way. Only joking!!:)
Cheers for the link Pedro, got one up for your kind self too buddy.
Denilson had a blinder and fro
m now should take over the freekick duties it felt nice to see one dip in
nice post Wrighty
I suppose I should say that over there really.
gnarley,
Only position we could add is striker… I dont see where we are going to put all these players when most are fit.
+ If you buy, who will accept to sit on the bench sometimes.. Why would Van Der Vaart play in Jan, then sit on the bench..He might as well warm the bench at RM.
Where’s the media outcry over that fucked up piece of blatant cheating yeaterday???
ManGoonian
Sky said it was a needless foul by Sylvester… The commentators are really dickheads.
Anyone read about John Terry taking £10k bungs to show people round Chelsea?
What a disgrace… £150k a week and he still needs more money…
The fight of yesterday will give steel to the steam to now…
It was like our great teams of the past. Return gifts for Stephen Cunt & co.
*The fight of yesterday will give steel to the team now
I was impressed with Sylvester… He just needs a run of games and he will be a good option for us.
yeah i read it …well proves that chelski is what we always believed them to be…moneygrabbin feckers all of them….not excluding their fans…there really isnt that far ago when stamford was filled to the brink by 10-11000 fans;)…and this is the way manciteh is headed too……….and all i can say is..money cant buy you love….
terry..a cocain habit isnt cheap…
Shows he’s ageing Pedro..contributing towards his pension for the time they realise he’s become crap
We have to thank Hughes for giving us some of that Arab money at the start.
Only a real cunt would give us that kind of money.
Hughes is a great gaffer… for the likes of Blackburn, or maybe Hull when Browny is sacked…
silvestre had a good game yesterday, and anyone who says otherwise is just being a dick, or didnt watch the game… he defended well when he had to, got forward, ok didnt do an awful lot, but then again neither did most of the arsenal players yesterday, so credit where credits due, he had a good game, and along with yesterday’s performance there have been signs over the last few weeks, that he can when needed to, do a job for us!!!
Just read it Pedro
Link is here
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/647166/TERRYS-ALL-SOLD-John-Terry-in-secret-cash-scandal.html
He should lose his England Captaincy over this and I am sure the Tax man would like to look at it.
I think Man City might become a force to be reckoned with in the 2nd half of the season.
Mancini will have money to spend in Jan and with what he has already got, there is a chance they could get into the top 4.
It will be interesting to see what comes of Ade. I could see them moving him on, or at least trying to, which wont be easy as he is a money grabbing mercenary who is being paid a shit load of money there.
Makes abydeyor look like Mother Teresa,greedy bastard.
Song for jon terry
How much ever i hate the cunt, this is a non-issue. Especially if he was intending to donate it.
It’s just a tour of the club, who the heck would pay 10000 for it.
How can Citeh strengthen in Jan, as AW says there are no good players available!
With Cesc, Ros, RVP and Bendy to return, the second half of the season looks mighty promising. Lets hope for some luck with injuries.
Just read this in the Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/6817601/Premier-League-team-of-the-decade-Henry-Winters-Noughties-XI.html
What would your Arsenal team of the decade be? I would go with
Seaman
Lauren, Campbell, Adams, Cole (on Quality not personality)
Ljungberg, Cesc, Vieira, Pires
Henry, Bergkamp
Bench: Lehmann, Vermaelen, Parlour, RVP, Gilberto, Arshavin, Clichy
And your PL team of the Decade?
Cech
Lauren, Adams, Ferdinand, Cole
Ronaldo, Vieira, Gerrard, Giggs
Henry, Torres
Bench: Van Der Sar, Campbell, Bergkamp, Lampard, Rooney, Cesc, Pires
Mayank, he’s got gambling issues and I have no doubt that the charity things was just an excuse.
Why would he need to take cash to do that? Couldn’t he do that officially?
Geoff donates money to the make a wish foundation… I bet it was the first charity that popped into his head because they do a Christmas ball at the Dorchester.
If the money was going to Charity, I am sure he would not have be so secretive about it. In fact if players were offering that service, I am sure the club would be right behind them and offer it on the website.
Got to laugh at the press hacks again today.
I woke up to see the headline
Dutch star snubs January move to Arsenal
Yet I dont think we have ever bid for him, and he has not turned us down. He just says he wants to fight for his place at Madrid!!!!! How is that a snub. Lazy cunts
Gosh! Just read in NOTW that Gibson is getting a payrise to equal Wellbeck at £15k per week. Why the fuck do we pay Walcott and the other younguns 60k? That’s madness, espacially given that they havent proved they can cut it yet!
I’m staggered at the disparity displayed by our club. Surely if they reduced the season ticket price and made it more ‘realworld’, and reduced our young and unproven players salary, we’d see less than the 5000 seats that are clearly empty (and seeming growing) at home games. The club can propaganda how we sell 60,009 tickets at every game all they like, m but we all have eyes, so know its utter bullshit…
But i still think if people are stupid enough to give 10k to see Chelsea’s training area then there’ll be someone stupid enough to show them around. I just don’t get why a man with his kind of cash would do with 8k more?
goin to west ham to boo Chelsea. I think West Ham can take a point especially with Cech looking on par with Almunia and no essein.
Raynor Walcott is an exception, we pay first teamers like Song and Denilson around 35k if the same sources are to be believed.
The reason Walcott is an exception is the same one that makes J.S. Park earn 60k. Both have about the same impact on football side but make much more money for the club in terms of shirt sales etc. JS is very popular in the far east just like Theo is in England.
The players’ agents will get this factor into consideration while negotiating a new deal.
Morning all: Another 3 points in the bag, I was nervous prior to the game, not sure why, but the team played well given the personnel. Loved the way the lads stood up for each other when it counted.
Here’s ESPN’s critique of the incident, apparently its on par with Macherano’s two footed lung:
‘There’s no doubt that the Premier League season is heating up. The last few weeks have been extremely entertaining. And, for the casual observer, it’s wonderful to see the Big Four teams getting beat. But there were two incidents on Saturday that I found deplorable. The first was Javier Mascherano’s horror tackle on Portsmouth’s Tal Ben Haim. The second was Samir Nasri’s deliberate kick at Hull City’s Richard Garcia.
If you watch the Nasri incident again, you can see the Frenchman deliberately and maliciously kick the back of Garcia’s ankle behind the back of referee Steve Bennett. Arsenal had already won the free kick, so there was no need for Nasri to kick out the way he did. It’s bad enough to get kicked in the ankle, but when someone does it behind you without you even seeing it coming, you can imagine how painful that must have been for Garcia.
Nasri deserved a straight red for the incident. But because the Arsenal player did it behind the back of Bennett and the two assistant referees didn’t see the incident in the crowded area, Bennett ended up giving a yellow card to both Nasri and Steven Hunt. It was bad enough that Nasri got off lightly with just a yellow, but there was no way that Hunt deserved that card. After Nasri fouled Garcia, Hunt took matters into his own hands and pushed Nasri, as Nick Barmby did and a melee then ensued.
Nasri has gone way down in my estimation based on this one horrible decision. But I’m also disappointed with how a prominent Arsenal blog (NSFW) saw the incident, which is one of the reasons why I don’t typically enjoy club blogs in general because they often put blinders on and are very biased in favor of their club. This is how ArseBlogger described the incident:
“Samir Nasri, for reasons best known to himself, bumped into a Hull player and gave him a little kick on the foot while the ref’s back was turned. It was a bit sly, I have to say, and there really wasn’t any need for it. Especially as the Hull player wasn’t that little knacker Steven Hunt. But you know, f**k them. A little bit of aggro is no bad thing and it’s nice to see the lads sticking up for each other.”
“Little kick on the foot”? “Sticking up for each other?” Give me a break. Watch this video (around the 1 minute 30 second mark) and see for yourself:
So its alright for the spud barmby to raise his hands then?
*lunge*
ESPN taking up Skys mantle then
Fuck them as well then……….
I agree with them. If you look closely you can see that Nasri pulls out a flick knife and plunges it into Garcia’s back. Evil, garlic munching little cunt
Even with my rose tinted specs on I’m not sure if it was a sending off offence.
Garcia’s dive was though…
Does it really take that long to squeeze the extra game in? It’s ridiculous… I hate looking at the league table talking about our position if we do happen to win our extra game.
—————————————–
my thoughts precisely ..
ive been waiting so long to gloat about something, ANYTHING !!!!!
and with man U’s injuries and some wacky results over the weekend ,liverpool playing like a pack of dogs we might actually be 2nd ? or 4th ? 5th ?
when will we not be a week behind ?
?
and who’s the game against ? its not the chev’s is it
It’s against Bolton. Not sure when they’re playing it
It is on the 6th Jan
That means we play them twice in 2 weeks.
Pedro PLEASE!!!! i need a villa ticket!!!
I am coming to London for two weeks, and i have never seen Arsenal play live.
If i can’t find a ticket before the game i am gonna have to try find a tout, what would i expect to pay?
raynor73 Says:
December 20, 2009 at 13:12
Gosh! Just read in NOTW that Gibson is getting a payrise to equal Wellbeck at £15k per week. Why the fuck do we pay Walcott and the other younguns 60k? That’s madness, espacially given that they havent proved they can cut it yet!
___________________________
Seriously fella, you cannot put Theo on a par with those 2 Mancs! Wilshire and JET, maybe, but not Theo… Shit! Phil Neville was on £60k a week at United about years ago FFS!
years ago even…
8 years ago… WTF???
when i look at whats going on at liverpool its very simerler to our form last season we were lacking in confedence we leaking goals and we could not score either.i feel there still alot twists and turns yet to come this season realy suprised me.i feel although in ideal world a more experienced midfielder would be nice delinson diaby ramsey song nasri although very young have shown that they not puch overs and very tough and can handle to tough side of the game.
on anther subject man city the sacking did not suprise one bit as soon as saw the signings he made i knew they never going get into top 4 the only top class player that were bought is given belemy and tevez. i see ade and real madrid reject cant spell his name if you are going to spend 30 mill on a player he has got be the real deal and this guy is winger/stiker like rinaldo but he is alot better .as for there defence its a joke.they can but another defender that have that in there favour
ManGoonian,
Your point is that Theo is a better footballer than Weelbek? Is that based on
a) ball retention while in motion
b) close ball control
c) ability toi shoot on target
d) dribbling ability?
e) speed
f) because he plays for Arsenal?
Wellbeck is an overrated cunt imo.. he’s never going to make it unless he sorts out that attitude of his..
Confident gooner, I believe MG’s point was that Theo gets more than Wellbeck because he sells more shirts
Roha,
lts not argue the attitude issue, lets focus on their football attributes.
Confident, or maybe because he’s been playing at the top level for 3 years, and Wellbeck has only played a handful of games?!
Theo is an England international, welbeck has only made a couple of sub appearances for the u21s.
Welbeck is a player with potential, though he isn’t the most intelligent player, and his passing is very poor, but overally he’s MILES behind Theo, and obviously wouldn’t get paid anything like as much.
Welbeck is the same level, and place in terms of his development as Merida/Wilshere, and behind Ramsey, to compare him to Theo is laughable.
theo is very low in confedence but does have much skill or trickery yes he pace but nothing else
Apart from the fact that Theo is only a year and a bit older than Welbeck, but has made 110 appearances for us, and 8 England caps whereas Welbeck has only made 22 appearances so far in his career, the vast majority in cup matches or matches that don’t matter.
Leon he isn’t a tricky player, that isn’t his game. He’ll score and set up alot of goals once he gets his sharpness and confidence back
looks like RATM got XMAS number one!!! LOL
cmon hammers!!
Penalty……. Diamante 1-0 yeeeessss
yes…1 more goal will settle.
GET IN!!!
Get in there!!!! Come on west ham hold onto it, this we could turn to be as good as the last exept stupid spuds won
hello all
one more goal westham,C`mon…
penalty to chelsea…it is not a penalty..
bullshit refereeeing by linesman
How shit is Robert Green.
ceating chav scumcunts
the ref is more moody than a nine bob note!!!
never a pen…
cunt of a ref
Mike Dean is a fucking idiot.
guys..the ref didnt give it..it was the stupid LINESMAN who made the decision of the foul in penalty box..
stupid refreeing overall…
Stupid cheating cunts
The referee had a good view of the penalty incident,why did he need to go to the lino?
If that penalty decision was made in an Italian league game we’d all say what do you expect, the Italian league is corrupt….
C`mon west ham…get the second ..C1mon
what a fuckin dive
wow … wow … drogba is a fockin shame … no really that’s a shame
1-1 FT.
Well done West Ham
chelshit drop 2 pts mashallah
c`mon arsenal ..lets win against villa,inshallah…
WHUFC robbed!
We can go level top with Chelski now.
How does that work than samir?
Great weekend for us.
Oh no we can’t we’d be 2 points behind if we win our game in hand….Sorry
Samir,
actually, that would be 3 points
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/table/default.stm
Chelsea have Birmingham, Fulham, Hull then Sunderland. And they will be losing some Africans to the ACN.
We are gaining players back from injuries and have Villa, Portsmouth, Bolton then Everton.
Well Done West Ham
could have been all 3 dropped by the Chavs, but I will take another 2 dropped.
Villa game is huge, if we can get all 3, we are back in it.
No Samir we’d be three points off IF we win our game in hand. They’re on 41, we’re on 35.
Ok, I give up with the points and the table….
I am in set 1 maths by the way
Birmingham have been in good form lately, hopefully it continues for when chelsea visit.
Hopefully both Birmingham and Fulham beat Chelsea. And Sunderland hold out for a draw against them.
Hull have no chance of any kind of result however.
Felipe Melo- 3.5: The Brazilian’s poor season continues, as he misplaced several passes and was replaced after just 30 minutes by coach Ciro Ferrara
Good thing we didn’t get him
Stop deluding yourselves we wont win unless Wenger signs a new keeper a tall big striker in Dzeko and he fuckin learns 2 pick the right players and formations.
pissed off. WHU should have won the game.
stupid refs.
hull gets a penalty against us that was never one.
chelski gets a penalty thats was never a penalty to rob west-ham
shite, shite, every point matters
I can agree with the keeper, don’t see it happening tho.
We can be level on points if we beat chelsea
COME ON YOU HAMMERS!
Pat- that’s why ppl used to say Wenger knows
Delighted we did not get Melo.
I was not impressed with him at all in the Confed Cup in the Summer. Gilberto was outclassing him.
Sign Vieira on loan, and Dzeko and I think we could at least challenge to win the League.
We’re playing Villa away, Chelsea away, Manu home, Liverpool home. How many points u guys think we’ll get from these four in a row?
Gooby, I don’t think Wenger knew… hence the bid in the first place.
Just because Melo is playing badly, doesn’t mean he is a bad player…
Pat, I’d go along with that… more important for us is a centre back.
Dzeko wont come, he wants to go to Milan. Not sure Wenger would spend more than £15 million on him either. I’d sign him though, I like his game.
i honestly dont now why we didnt get shay given , i suppose big Al is on similar money to given yet the jump in quality between the 2 is like chalk and cheese .
to his credit he stopped another shot yesterday ..
but you can just see the defense is shaky as a result of his constant presence .
vito still did a better job not hemorrhaging goals than almunia during his short stay. Sometimes i wonder what wenger see’s in persisting with him ,
its another Ade bench whore syndrome .
persisting with crap will lose you games !
Pedro,
he is a poor player IMO, never rated him – I reckon with the silly money Juve paid for him, Viola must have been laughing all the way to the bank…
i really can’t see who is wenger plannig to sign, the man works in comlete siclence and never gives a clue.
i m sure he will sign someone unexpected if he does.
Ethan, I’m with you regarding Given, that would have been a fantastic signing. He is one of the most reliable shot-stoppers around, and is pretty competent in all other areas of goalkeeping.
I like the look of our 4th choice Sczesny, apparently he was incredible yesterday (again).
If anything, he should have played ahead of Vito.
Gooby, that’s how Wenger does things all the time, he knows that attracting public attention to the player bumps up the market value, plus attracts bidding wars from other clubs.
Just watched a plucky West Ham performance against Chelsea who were somehow given a penalty that never was. They also should have conceded another when Carvallho, already with a yellow card for a long list of fouls hammered into the back of a WH player in the box when the ball was nowhere near. But perhaps the most unsurprising moment came when John Terry came charging 50 or 60 yards from his CH position with a foot high and over the ball tackle that was surely a straight red considering how dangerous and reckless it was. If Mascherano deserved to go yesterday then so did Terry.
Given reliable ha. Now I’ve heard it all.
Wort keeper in the league in terms of coming out for crosses.
I’d take Kuszczak over him. Better reflexes, better at coming out, worse at kicking.
Overall, the PL has no keeper thats even close to world class.
I think all our reserve keepers are better than our number one, which is quite funny.
Higuain is the most in-form striker on the planet atm.
Fucking amazing. Much better than Benzema imo
What a goal!
I like Szczesny but that doesn’t mean I’d pick him ahead of Almunia or Fabianski tomorrow.
It’s a tough call between Fabianski and Almunia but if Wenger has decided on Almunia for the moment yo’ve got to expecthoim to suport his confidence -
e’s not going to say ….but if he make another ock up he’s out even ifthat’s what he really thinks -
I als like Given but thisidea that he would have cme to Arsenal if w’d pushed realy hard is just speculation – it’s a good game but don’t get confused with reality where there might have been a million reasons he would never have come.
Newcastle’s Krul is better than any PL keeper actually.
yep sion. and it keeps us stressed lol. who’s next?
PS sorry my keyboard isn’t working very well
Sion,
are you sure? would agree on Fabianski, Szczesny is above the lot of them talent wise, but lacks a bit of upper body strength and Mannone is, well, Mannone…
suga3- manonne had a freat game tho, blackburn’s isn’t it?
evening all…
was reading the comments and for me the statement by Metal Gear 18.10 was feckin spot on….before buying Wenger needs to pick the right players for every game…
in it ? we’re more than in it— A..its not really that bad being three points behind at christmas ??
Sion De Freitas agreed wenger keeps his cards close to heart…even though with some signings like Arshavin..we’ve been able to guess ..
Geoff and I were talking earlier… Wenger said Arshavin was too pricey before he signed him… maybe a bit of Dzeko on the cards?
Gooby,
Mannone is so shaky it’s unbelievable – IMO he is the least assured keeper of them all: good shot stopper he may be, but it’s more about luck than ability
fair play for saving our bacon at Fulham…
For all the shit Shay Given gets, he is still 5th best player in the actim stats… even with a shitty old defense in front of him.
I haven’t heard too many City fans calling for a new keeper.
He saves more points a year than he drops.
Pat, Higauin was amazing yesterday… I’d love him at Arsenal! I’d take Benzema as well… they’ve got a glut of talent there. Marcelo looked good as well!
Defender please…..somebody thinking abt that???
proper Defender as backup for gallas/VM thats most important..
lyon are in deep shite they are 9th in the week(before they play monaco tonight)
IF they are not in the top 3 for a champions league spot next season hugo lloris will sure be on the market. he is the best keeper ammong the realtic targets
agree perdo, higauain is amazing, did you see his second goal? stunning
i think mannone is an ok keeper he is only 21 at the most he is kid they few games he did play he did pretty well there no question wenger should have gone given but its dome now i think fabianki should be ahead of almunia who is good second keeper but top class keeper
well anything is better than big al , the problem with ade in attack is just as to what Almunia is to goal ..
poor management by wenger 1stly to go into this season short on keeping talent , 2ndly to persist this long with the Spaniard …
i think wenger is either becoming more lenient with his players or just more senile ..
even thou jens is not perfect , im sure he is having a chuckle now
How much is Given on at Citeh, does anyone know ?!
The commentator mentioned that in 7 Premiership penalites against him Almunia’s saved 4, dunno if thats right, but for any other keeper it’s probably be mighty impressive.
I haven’t heard too many City fans calling for a new keeper.
He saves more points a year than he drops.
————————–
yes it would be nice to feel that way again
about an arsenal keeper .
however you cant have everything nowadays …
in fact you cant have ANYTHING ! nowadays ….
Keyser, Almunia been impressing you this year?
Gooby, it was fantastic. He looks a real special prospect.
Geoff was saying it was minus three in Madrid yesterday and Casilas was wearing a short sleeve shirt.
Must have been freezing his bollocks off…
keyser
given 50-60 k P/w
same as theo …
yep pedro it was cold in spain over the weekend.
Higauain is a lethal stiker, that’s his first quality. he has of course a wonderfull tecnique and gets the ball forward so quickly without sticking around wasting time.
when he is in a goalscoring position he always seem to know where the goal is exactly and send the ball into the net giving no chance to keepers.
he is ahead of benzema for now imho.
Pedro – Not really, just an impressive stat.
Ethan – Is that it ? Where did you read that ?!
the thing concerning goalies is confidence…and at least wenger gives em that..
is almunia or was he ever good enough..im sorry to say no,even though i had him as motm yesterday..
then again there arent really that many excellent goalies out there…
find me a Banks,Sepp Mayer,Yahsin or Zoff ill buy one in a heartbeat…
gooby
thats the sort of striker you need alright .
in fact sign both benzema – higuain and lose some dead weight within the squad with AA23 behind them . would much rather that
than – RVP -nik b – dudu
The telegraph Keyser.
I see it hasnt taken long to get back to slating….
Has Jaguar been on today? I wanna know what he thought of Diaby yesterday!
i read at newcastle he was on 50k pw ,
then he signed a 3 year deal for 60 k pw
for a reported move of 5.9 mil ,
originally thought 8 mil …
but the transfer was only 5.9 mil
oh keyser not sure if the info is reputable .
but after reading half a dozen of em , only 1 spurted figures ..
and the above was the figures quoted ..
but i shouldnt imagine it is that far wrong give(n) or take 10grand
I’d have thought Given would be on closer to £80-100k, seeinmg as how much City have thrown around since the Abu Dabians took over…
point is if we sold Al pre season and got GIVEN i dont think anyone would be either screaming of defensive problems or keeping problems .
MG, even if he is… I think he’d have taken a move to us on less.
Well, Geoffs made said he was ready to…
STG, I think Fab is good enough to be number one… but a keeper doing well off the top of my head is Seb Frey.
Just like Adebayor would have moved to United for £80k a week…
MG
well if you believe he was on 50 k at newcastle a 10 k step up seems a correct increase …
id like one like that myself but im sure in footballing terms its modest to good as far as increases are concerned .
I think Fabianski will be a great keeper for us, he just needs to get that chance first tho!
ethan;
Yeah, a measely £10k a week pay raise is barely worthn a mention, I mean, Cashley would have swerved off the road, done about 25 roll overs and his 4×4 exploded in disgust at that paultry amount!
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/arsenal-potential-transfer-targets-1829591.html
not a lot of new stuff, Babel added to the mix…
thoughts?
LOu;
Spot on there fella…. John Terry obviously mostook the WHam player for one of those NotW reporters!
Fucking joke the way certain players get away with moyder every game…
Someone I know just got a pay rise of £423… for the year!
What a slap in the chops…
‘If Arsenal can’t win the title from here we don’t deserve to!’
Now there’s an intelligent headline if ever I did see one…
Pedro;
Ha! Yeah, I saw that too…. Very insightful innit!
He’s supposed to be on about 8 milloion for 4 years, but who knows, I think Given would have moved to us but still don’t think he’d have made much difference, he’s not dominant enough, good shot stopper though.
I had the pleasure of clicking a link from another writer on their site earlier… what a pile of garbage… something about the players being worse than Fred Goodwin after the first half yesterday?
Keyser, I don’t always think it’s about being dominant in the box… it’s having the consistency to form an understanding.
Almunia doesn’t offer that…
Brittany Murphy dead… at 32!
MG
Yeah, a measely £10k a week pay raise is barely worthn a mention
————————————–
true but it sure beats being relegated to the championship . AND staying on 50 k a week .
not sure why wenger wouldnt go for him, over 400 EPL games . great averages …
and this is what i mean when i say we too often nowadays settle for 2nd best with wenger in charge .
if he is as ruthless to Almunia as he was to jens or PV04 (pires – freddie the list goes on)
we would probably have sorted out both the defense and keeping problems prior to game 1 kick off ..
Almunia was pretty average last season also .
he has been consistently poor for some time now , the axe must drop shortly one would think .
That consistentcy has to run through the whole team, two years ago Almunia was having a pretty good season, but then so were we, its why Van De Sar can break clean sheet records and have to make less saves than other goalies.
We get nervous on corners, set pieces and crosses, I don’t think Given’s going to make us any more assured.
SUGA3 those are just made up, don’t trust them. Babel is a ridiculous one too, not a chance
No way Pedro???
I think the difference in Almunia this season is his lack of confidence, which has meant he leaves his line even less frequently putting more pressure on the defence… I thought he did very well last season. Cant say the same this time round…
Brittany Murphy brown bread???
Mayank i dont recall Nasri’s first match him doing it but i remember him almost drop kick joey barton into row z just after he came on at the emirates in the Newcastle game for no reason at all (it must have been because the crowd boo’d him so much and nasri wanted to make a good impression.. IT WORKED!!, or maybe it was because bartom punched that french dude when he was at city?) . i think in that moment he became a fans favourite (that and the brace against manure)
must be drug related .
————————-
she looked liked she was constantly jacked up on some shit ..
and indeed Hunt’s first name should be Mike, not Stephen
A,
thought some of them is just a lazy journo shit, but in fairness, we could do with a few of them…
if we beat villa next week we will win the league i.m.o
MG
yeah he is especially poor this season and at this level you cannot persist for even 6 months trying to get players back in form and try to stay in the hunt for trophies in the mean time ..
it might of worked for wenger so far ..
but its more ass than class ..
have to give credit to denilson,that free kick was about the best thing he’s done for the club
Apart from his other two goals this season.
B.B.K.
I just knew he was going to score – watched it with my mates and they were like: ‘no, he’s not gonna have a go, he’s gonna try and find someone in the box’, and I said he scored 2 long range ones this season, so he will give it a try
wouldn’t it be nice to have someone on the other side of the pitch to do just that?
And all the tackles, interceptions etc… Oh and all the cake runs he’s done to the local bakers for the lads….
nah keyser,that freekick was pivitol to us taking all 3 points
ethan;
I would like Fabianski in goal as soon as mate…
it’s about time we have had someone score a freekick other then v.p
ManG, it’s a fair comment… scoring a 35 yard Freekick to take the pressure off the team was pretty special.
I’d hardly mark out an interception as the best thing he’s done…
Mind you, you’ve got to respect the cake run…
Well those ones are all just made up, I can say that factually! Though only Babel is a really ridiculous one I guess, and Afellay, the rest aren’t totally out of the question
Hope Denilson uses the Bagel shop opposite the 12 Pins. Fine bread and cakes.
Notice how City struggled at set pieces yesterday. Every single long ball or cross caused them trouble and Given almost never went off his line.
The Arsenal struggle with long balls/crosses, so Given would not improve us at all imo
I think AW could make Babel into a fine player. Benitez has ruined him.
Pedro;
It terms of that game, it was very importnat, but I wouldnt say it was the best thing he’s done for us….
The cake run wins hands down… Eboue’s a right grouch unless he gets his Vanilla Slice I tell thee…
Not imo Raddy, Babel is one of the dumbest footballers around, he could never cope in our system, however much Wenger worked on him
denilson’s free kick was proper bo….
A. We will never know.
Indeed Raddy
BBK What is “bo”?
Help an old fella out….
In terms of transfers, a young CB a defensive midfielder and a striker would be kinda feckin cool…
c.mon m.g it was,apart from that he is shit
v.p’s so unlucky. he’s always dangerous on freekicks but rarely scores them. i think denilson should take them more often in the absence of robin, he has a great technique when hitting the ball!
it means good b.r
BR;
Bo Selecta…
Funny as fook comedy show. The title’s from that Craaaaaaaaig David tune…
“When the crowd say Bo, selecta”
Not half as effin funny when you try and explain it mind!
A,
Babel is just as ‘dumb’ as Walcott and I think he has more chance of becoming the next TH than Theo – FSW ruined him, he was brilliant in Holland…
BBK;
But you think everyone’s shit and the world will end in 3 and a half weeks tho…. Your opinion is warped dude!
Disagree totally SUGA, Babel is dumb in every way, Theo is very intelligent with his movement off the ball, but still learning when he’s on it. Even on the ball Theo isn’t close to Babel in terms of dumnness.
SUGA3 he was always flashy but never had an all round game. I remember seeing him in the u21s, and he couldn’t pass to save his life then, but was just good at getting the ball and weaving very quickly with it, then kicking it hard. He hasn’t developed his all round game at all, though under a different manager it could’ve developed more.
MG. I
A GK is top of my Xmas list.
I have confidence in JD, and would like to see Bartley step up.
Until we sell some players, I cannot see another MF arriving.
A striker on the otherhand would be great, but I fear AW will sign no-one in Jan
talking about signings:
i think we should gamble on mousssa sisokho from toulouse.
United after Hatem Ben Arfa, and Fabiano said he’d be interested in going to Old Trafford after the world cup
So Is Diaby bo?
Pat where’s that from?
A,
I still think he would be immense, had he spent the last few years under Wenger
Raddy,
JD is sadly one of the players who are just not Arsenal quality – big, strong, but a bit clueless in the box, making silly challenges…
Hatem ben arfa is a total looser. i’ll be glad to see him in a mancs shirt. this guy id pathetic
We’ll have to agree to disagree SUGA! imo He’s a glorified Diomancy/Henri Camara, and will follow similar paths to them, could be useful at a Fulham or equivalent, but will never do anything playing for a top team
I agree about JD though, not got high hopes for him
I can’t see a GK arriving. A midfielder is also unlikely for me.
i think if AW decides to buy it’ll be a striker. but again i have this feeling that bendtner could step up and do the job up front . is it just me?
I respectfully disagree Suga.
He is class IMO. 23 caps for Switzerland, only 22 y.o. and he knows the Arsenal way. I see a big future for him alongside TV.
Gooner.
No it’s not just you !
Adriano on loan until the end of this season could be a good idea – a win-win kind of situation for everyone concerned (club, manager, player): he’d work his nuts off to get into the Brazil WC squad and AW could hold on to ‘his’ money…
Yeah gooby sisokho of toulouse seems good.
Now that IS a good suggestion SUGA
ManGoonian Says:
December 20, 2009 at 20:05
ethan;
I would like Fabianski in goal as soon as mate…
—————————————–
agreed , once he was fit again sept/oct (when ever it was ) fab2 should of had the nod over AL , wenger should of given him this time until dec 31 to prove himself prior to dipping into the market …
but who would you get this transfer period who’s any cop anyway ?
yes i hope his decision not to buy pre -season dont end up biting wenger in the ….
fab2 seems the only valid short term PLAN B , the sooner its implemented … the better .
BR,
if I was to keep one of the Swiss boys, I’d rather keep Phil
Well that was another pretty good weekend of results.
All my marmite players did either fairly well or very well, i.e the 3 I’ve slated the most namely Diaby, Denilson and Coco the clown.
The other usual scapegoats did ok too, IMO, The pass master and fish head.
I liek the fight we’re starting to show too – reminds me of Old Tiolet in the 1990-91 season. For McClair read Garcia; for Nutty boy read the Arsh.
The way I saw it Nasri was exacting retribution ffior a snide kick on the Arsh while he lay on the floor – at least our team are fighting for each other.
Besrt chant of the day “Tango, Tango – what’s the score ?”
Ermm, did someone hack le-grove. Why does the site look like this?
looks OK to me, zeus – it just happens sometimes
One of my highlights of being at the game yesterday was the celebration of Gunnersaurus after Denilson’s goal.
He ran along the side of the pitch right in front of that orange twat giving it the big one.
Effin priceless.
(Watching United get stuffed in the 12 pins before the game was rather nice too!)
Chary
totally agree , all your so called vegemite players
did ok against piss poor opposition 
well done to them
in all honesty denilsons goal was special .diaby looked like a footballer for a change ..
but is it they are improving or just playing a shit team
?
should we really read into any of these lesser
teams taking a good hiding from us ?
Ethan, i agree with you. Let’s not get too excited and wait for the big test next week !! especially that we were shite in the first half
G
cheers , but its good to see the manc’s have there whole back line out …
they have no game plan if they cant fall back on a tight defense .
id prefer to play them currently instead of villa.
Big Raddy;
Looks like its just me and you who rate Johan then!
I think a CB is still needed mind, especially a young un who can come in, get the odd game and hopewfully be set for next season, unless Havard comes back in jan that is…
Gallas, Senderos and Silvestre’s deals all end next summer… Although I hope Gallas signs on again and maybe even Silvestre if he plays like that again!
Yea united were pathetic yesterday. the defense seemed to be in danger every time fulham had the ball !!
Get excited, please. Enjoy it while you can. Live it for the moment….not for next week or next May, ffs.
…..After all we might be shit next week.
Still not getting the right template from le-grove. I just wonder if we could add a bit of goalscoring threat by actually taking more direct freekicks. RVP, the specialist never scores them anymore(been two years), but if that was Fab4 he would have floated it in.
Sadly Fab4 doesn’t have the skill for freekicks bcuz he doesn’t strike the ball very cleanly and he doesn’t generate enough power in the ball from a stationary position.
We need that ability though, if nothing else but just as a ‘get out of jail card.’
BR;
I have huge hopes for Bartley too…
http://goonerholic.com/?p=2001
Laters fellas… Off for a drink in the blizzards outside in the frozen North!
chozzer;
Have you been at the cookin sherry?? No offence, coz I dig the sentiments 100%!!!
Nodoby speaks about the subsitutions, but ramsey was so class when he came in !!!! So was vela and walcott was good also!!! But ramseys impact was incredible!
The 2nd half was such a good half!
Things we’ve learnt from yesterday:
- diaby is very good as a shadow striker(striker) he is so powerfull, with diaby we’ve powerfull intentions and his dribbles are incredible! Love him, when he plays in that position(it’s all wengers fault that he was bad at the DM position)
- Denilson is great!!!! But i said it before!
- Vermealen is the best defender in the PL!
- Our team defends a lot better after the chelsea game
- Eduardo was great yesterday(hope he stays in that form)
- Eboue is my first choice right back
And with all that conclusions, I hope for this against villa.
almunia(i hope fabianski but……)
eboue-gallas-vermealen-silvestre( what is going on with clichy???)
nasri-song-denilson
—–fabregas——
———–Diaby
—–arshavin—–
Agree???
I’m always pissed MG.
Morning all
So the chavs had another slip up. Imagine if we beat Villa. Oh & how far away is NB52? Anyone know?
Chozzer
I saw the big green lizard doing his thing
MG
i think johan is the answer , all these people calling out for a new CD , well HELLO .. we already have JD ! getting another in would only ruin his career . He did ok last season …
real good maturity for his age , he could be fashioned into someone useful , who also would accept the role as gallas – tv back up ..
so why get another to join the cue .
also song , long term with ramsey nasri denilson diaby all sniffing for midfield spots i think song’s long term plan the way wenger see’s it is song to CD ..
he said it pre season . one would think wenger still plans on that as an option ..
Yeah Ethan, I’m not sure whether Hull are a lot crappier than last year or we’ve improved that much. For Diaby we have to see if he can string some decent performances together and they are not isolated events.
Still 3 points is 3 points whoever they’re from and with us gainning 2 points on the Chavs and 3 on the Mankskummers I can’t complain too much – although the Spuds and Villa winning is a tad unwelcome.As Chozzer says though, we have to enjoy the moment – the footballing gods can come back to bite you in the arse quickly enough.
Even another of the annoying aspects about watching us play – namely Gunnersaurus did us proud from what Chozzer says. Tango man thought he was being very clever by hanging round the tunneel pre match to ambush Wenger for a handshake.
Was he bitter about Nasri not being sent off or what ?
Dioesa he noty kbnow it;s a physical game – you have to “Get in peoples faces” – Garcia fell like a ballerinsa who’d been sneezed upon. Typical team of bullys Hull -you stand up to them and they whinge and complain like a bunxch of Patsy’s.
A’ve it you suckers !!!!
Ethan, not sure whether Denilson is improving but Diaby sure is.
He had his best away game against Burnley imo
Yeah, ethan, how far away is Big YoYo20 as well?
nicki b is expected to be back at the new year, so he should make it for the bolton game
Bendy is meant to be back in training from tomorrow I believe, along with Traore and Cesc, and Clichy soon too I think? Bendy unlikely to feature in a weeks time though, prob Bolton or West Ham be his first match back, or maybe Pompey at a push, though we won’t want to rush him obviously.
man i have always rated dj he just needs to be a bit more agresive at times but he powerful and quick and at 22-23 has tons of to improve but delelopment will improve under experienced defender like gallas he always plays well with gallas i just concerned about constant injurys
Another thing that made me larf was ole 65% proof nose whingeing to the 4th official all the way through the Fulham game.
I thionk it’s high tiome the alky old scootish cnut was put out to pasture. Let him have a bath chair and he can start dribbling whisky down his chin on his own.
That picture will have me larfing all the way through my week in the Canaries assuming Heathrow is not ice bound tomorrow.
here’s the official injury list explanation GG ..
Johan Djourou
November 9
Johan suffered a knee injury while on international duty in August and faces a lengthy lay-off. “Johan is [out for] six to eight months,” Wenger said. “He had big surgery, and it is a big blow for him and the Club. He will have to be patient this season.”
He will have to be patient this season ???
you know WTF that means when the arsenal medical department say PATIENT
Djorou comes back in mArch. He is our for the season as far as I’m concerned. They say if your out for 2 weeks you need about a month to get back to your top level. Dude has been out 8 months by then.Longterm he will get a chance, but this season is a write off for him I feel.
Might as well get Sol Campbell in as cover. We all know any second now (God forbid) Gallas is going out for MONTHS.
What about my 20:53 comment??
Mancini wants to spend some silly money (yes, I know it’s goal.com)
http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/222/transfer-zone/2009/12/20/1699433/roberto-mancinis-manchester-city-targets-include-fernando-torres-
suga3- i m really looking forward to it, man city are gonna fuck up ending with a hol unhappy squad.
What a bunch of cunts, they’re gonna change players every year and never build a solid squad. can’t wait for them to come to the emirates, beating those clowns is going to be wonderfull.
Dutchman,
I have always said that SS is Diaby’s best position (and he said it himself) and long it may continue
as for Clichy – back injuries are notorious for their recurrent nature: very unlikely to be fully healed once sustained…
Even Diaby on the scoresheet.Happy Days.
@ Dutchman
I think everyone that is on now didn’t really see the game bcuz of shitty streams, I didn’t, so they can’t agree/disagree.
but Henry? not in a million years…
only Arsenal in UK, MLS more likely
OK,zeus
heres a link to the injury news .
most are out until march +
even gibbs …
gael is about a month away and traoe the snail
is close to a return …
http://www.arsenal.com/news/injury-news
i’d take traoré that isn’t a problem for me.
i’d like to have RvP back earlier, make us a medical miracle robin please!
bendy’s return is crucial regarding our january fixtures
i think wenger wont risk cesc ..
and for me V’s villa that would be a real problem!
we are at home so wenger might go in light relying on home ground adv.
god i hope im wrong ….
cesc is vital to our chances of beating em .
but wenger will have faith fresh from last game about chary’s marmite players ..
Cheers ethan & zeus
gooby dont rely on nik to run straight back into form ..
i think either way we are screwed this season for strikers .
if they come back it will take a few games to fall back into the rhythm, same goes for if we buy ..
only way to get some class option upfront in is get a readi made super star , or pray someone like theo – dudu turns the corner ..
hmmmmmm . im not a betting man , but oviously wenger is …
id stick with AA up front , its the 1st positive move wenger has done in years imo .
Ethan, Wenger must surely stick Cesc straight back in against Villa, who are breathing down our necks. What’s he saving him for – Pompey ? The Shammers ?
It would make no sense to leave Cesc out next Sunday – as much sense as not starting the Arsh in the FA Cup semi.
later gg , lads ..
Cesc will almost certainly play against Villa, unless he has some sort of recurrence he’ll be fine, Traore likewise, Rosicky a tiny possibility.
Villa will be a test, would be big if we were to win.
Ethangunner
Once all our players get fit,Wenger is gonna continue with his experimentations of square pegs in round hole.I dont see anylight at the end of the tunnel,if we dont buy anyone in Jan.And if anyone thinks that we are in a good position,thanks to our own credit,they are rather deluded.Other teams have been incredibly inconsistent this season.
FFS,the win against Villa is not a big thing.Its a must,if we have to be in the contention for the title.
Villa this season have beaten Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool, so I would say it’s big rather than a must if we were to beat them
Jaguar,
Villa are quite something, and I think they are going to end up in the top 4 rather than Pool, Shitty or Spuds – IMO, their last season ‘demise’ was of their own making for buying that twat Heskey – had Carew played all the season, things could have been a tad different…
SUGA3 I dunno if they’ll make the top 4 – they don’t actually have the ability. What they do have is the system and the players to really nullify and beat the top teams, but it’s situations where they aren’t the underdog that they fall short. They don’t actually have the quality to break down the little teams.
i think it is complete bollocks that we have become so worried about aston villa what the fuck have we become when we start worrying about them,and to top it all of we have not beaten them at our home,disgusting really……
Everyone at the top of the table is worried about Villa BBK, all the other teams in the top 4 have lost to them this season, and we’ve not played them yet
we will beat villa imo. and i think wenger will use cesc if he is available, as he won’t risk loosing that one, it is important.
i would play nasri–arshavin—eduardo against them, and if traoré is back our defence won’t be outpaced by their wingers cause traoré is simply faster than millner.
villa’s game is def a six-pointer
nah there not a we are the only ones because they ran us close last season
Same Gooby, I’d go with, and expect
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermy Traore
Cesc Song Diaby
Nasri Arshavin Diaby
raore will get run ragged by milner make no mistake abut that
huh BBK??
You just ignoring the fact that the rest of the top four all lost to Villa this season? Noone has gotten a point against them, but we’re the only ones worried about playing them?
fuck me have we got 2 diabys then a
Just because they beat the others doesn’t mean they were worrying about them before hand
lol oops, Eduardo rather than the forward Diaby, not sure how that got in there
Well if they weren’t then obviously they paid the price BBK!
A,
seems diaby gained the love of the fans lol
Almunia
Sagna Gallas Vermy Traore
Cesc Song Diaby
Nasri Arshavin Eduardo
That’s more like it
cheers A, same for me
I’ll go with;
___________Diaby___________
Diaby–Diaby–Diaby–Diaby
___Diaby–Diaby–Diaby____
__Diaby–Diaby–Diaby___
Good?
we would have 10% on poss. with this one samir
Lol. True Gooby!
I’m Sure Wenger would like it however!
We’re gooner win The League, We’re gooner win The League!!!!
“If le Gaffer tops up in January, If le Gaffer tops up in January”
Crossed fingers Gnarley!
B.B.K.
it’s more about respecting the opposition rather than about being ‘worried’ or ‘afraid’ – this can only be good, as lack of respect and complacency was the reason for our piss poor last season…
for Villa:
Big Al
Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Traore
—-Cesc——Song—–Denilson
—-Nasri—–AA——-Diaby
Subs- Ramsey, Fabianski, Vela, Walcott, Sagna, Sylvestre, Wilshire
subs-take out wilshire, put in eduardo
No eduardo even on the bench luke?!
Suga, but 65% of The Arsenal’s lack of respect & complacency went to man city
22:19 A, my bad
ah ok. Not sure about that, i wouldn’t want Diaby in the front three, rather have him playing the role he did against Hull, we’ll need his physicality in the midfield
If ebway played like he did against hull, Id make hum #1, Sagna has been a bit flat of late IMO. The competition would make both Sagna and eboue work harder too.
Walcott faster than Henry!
“Now both shoulders have been done I’m confident of going on the outside again,” he admitted.
“And the fact is there is no problem with my running style now because I have just completed a couple of tests and I have actually got quicker.
“In fact, I have beaten Thierry Henry’s two club records on these tests where you’re timed between five and 15 metres and five and 40 metres.”
ARSENAL are the latest club to show an interest in Watford’s highly- rated keeper Scott Loach.
North London rivals Tottenham are also keen on the promising shot-stopper.
Wenger has always been fearful of signing another English keeper after the disastrous signing of Richard Wright in 2001.
The Ipswich keeper had always been error-prone at Portman Road and Wenger did not do his homework on him.
But Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has been watching Loach, 21, closely in recent weeks. Now he could take advantage of Watford’s crippling financial problems to swoop next month.
The Hornets’ No1 is now a regular in the England Under-21 squad, but is currently second choice behind Joe Hart.
What about a 4-1-3-2
Ebway-Gallas-Vermy-Traore
———-Song———–
—Cesc—-Denilson—Diaby
——Nasri—–AA——
Traore could get forward too, much more than sylvestre.
gg9,
possibly…
still, I did not like what I saw at Burnley – dare I say, things would have been different, if we ran to wards passes and put in a good shift…
*towards
Yep Burnley was a sterile experience indeed.
We would be one back of chelsea with a game in hand had we held on at west ham and beat burnley…so frustrating. Not to mention Big Al and Diaby’s magic at UTD, another game we should have taken 3 pts from.
2 back *
Never mind Higuain, please can we have Sergio Ramos? (As we seem to need minimum 4 left backs, the odd spare right back wouldn’t go amiss.)
Yeah, Nasri, love him:
* Scored in 4 mins on his Arsenal debut (was right in front of where i was!)
* Had a good go at f***** J Barton after Barton nearly broke his leg, promoting the clown Keegan to have a go at Sami at the end of the match – wtf Keegan?
* Two epic goals at home vs Man Utd when Ronaldo was all but invisible in that game (when he was whistling across the pitch for someone to pass him the ball, lol!)
* Handbags against Hull yesterday
I thought when I first saw him that he had backbone – literally, you can see he has incredible strong back muscles, he reminds me of an English Bull Terrier (I absolutely don’t mean to be rude comparing him to a dog, Brits *love* dogs).
He is one tough kid, same age as Cesc (22). I hope he stays with us forever.
C’mon, Samir, please score two vs Villa the way you did against Utd.
Don’t worry scpromo. I will! Lol
Prehaps they did a,but chelsea played them straight after the international break,man united have been weakend by the loss to there key player’s the other week and liverpool are just shit this season,we are the only ones going into this game worrying about aston villa,and as i said before it’s quite disgusting that we have not beaten them at the emirates..
Nasri is a man that takes no shit!
It’s that he’s Algerian.
Algerian’s take no crap!
Nasri is hell of a talent imo. i have blind confidence in this player’s abilities.
i’ve been watching him since he came on for the first time in french L1 at the age of 17(i think it was against sochaux but never minds)
the lad is going to be world class soon. he has talent, determination, power, techniqu and vision.
BBK;
Awww bless, making excuses for the mancs and chavs!
Gooby;
Nasri is the key, in fact he is the secret too… He’s a fucking gem o a player…
[...] Ahhh, what a messed up game we live in… Ratings and Review So first things first. Does it irritate anyone else that the league is so badly organised that we still have a game in [...] [...]
NAsri doesn’t look like a 12 m pound player shockingly. So much ability, but not that attitude to take on pressure on him self and being a consistent hero of the Arsenal.
Hopefully this changes.
What do you guys think about taking Luca Toni on loan until persie comes back? He’s 6 foot 5. But might be a little too old to cope in the prem.. (32 yrs old)
we will beat villa.
I can feel it.
If only we didn’t drop points @burnley we’d be second with a game in hand…
In the past now Maksud.
Chelsea have been 1-2-1 since they beat us
Nasri’s tackle was stupid to say the least but I am sure it came about because there were two Hull city players around the ball, delayin gthe free kick. Lved the way Song just “quitened” Hunt down.
If Nasri gonna get shit canned for that stamp, wat bout Barmby???
What a weekend.
If only we had done Burnely.
Could have lost is so it’s fine…point gained.
Manure getting stuffed 3-0.
Happy days.
Morning Iceman.
I know what you mean about Burnley, but all teams can do the “what if”. You should hear my Scouse postman! He has been “what iffing” for too many years.
Another great weekend as you rightly say.
Morning Mick.
Lol.
I guess scousers all over have over done the “what iffing.”
This season around they must be what iffing and cursing themsleves!!
What’s turning out to be the most interesting race in years and they’re not in it.
APOLOGY TO Mr Nasri.
I have been banging on about you. Time to step up etc.
Loved the performance on saturday (from what I could get out of the radio).
Hope we stick Diaby in front three against Villa. He can do some serious offensive damage, as well as no defensive damage. Release the beast!
There is a part of me that wishes the Scousers could finish above Utd ie 3rd.
Lets say we finish top. Chavs second and Villa 3rd. Would you take Spurs 4th over Utd?
I would.
Just for one year, mind you. Then Spurs can get relegated. Again.
Right. Busiest week of the year for me, so back to work.
Goon the the Moon.
Mick as tempting as that sounds manure always conjure somthing up.
The cunts.
Before I go, Iceman, can you bring yourself to answer my question? I know its tough.
Utd or Spurs for 4th?
Micky,
United all the way – why? ‘cuz Spuds would never stop going on about it, even if they would happen to get knocked out in the qualifying round against some shitkickers…
‘we are a top 4 team now’
mind you, there is another twist to that – we would not have to play Manure in the later stages…
chary
It would make no sense to leave Cesc out next Sunday – as much sense as not starting the Arsh in the FA Cup semi.
—————————
totally agree , but ive seen wenger doing some pretty silly shit in the past 2 or 3 seasons .
im not beyond the thinking that he will do the same again this weekend …
anything is possible …
i think he is either thinking denilson and diaby can more than cover
OR
he might say this game is not important as
there is another 18 games 2 go blah blah blah ..
cesc must be fully fit , not worth the risk ..
any excuse to have an excuse if we go down to them like the others have this season .
spuds.
I hate manure to the core mate.
I say if he isn’t 100% don’t risk him.
We should have enough to see them off at THOF!
Suga3
it would be soooo sweet to watch the spuds get done by a Spanish/German side ala Everton vs Villareal.
So it’s not like they would go through anyway
fair enough
Oh if only.
manure finish outside the top 4.
Surely that can’t happen can it?
it’s not going to happen, period.
unless they are THAT skint…
NEW POST!