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!
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?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcfbdNyB4Gk
fuck me have we got 2 diabys then a
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnaqa4zqim4
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…
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!