So Ar, Ar, Arshavin, Arsenal’s greatest love machine, says that when he came here, he expected playing for a top team would mean easy games, but says playing the Burnley’s of this world are as tough as playing the Mancs, he said you get no time on the ball.
He also said that Arsenal have had so many chances to close the gap and have not taken them, against Villa we need to do it and I have to agree.
We need to beat Villa to close the gap, or keep the gap the same, but we also need to dent their title hopes and send out a message, the top four is an exclusive club and until the chavs lose Abramovich, they will have to wait.
A Villa mate of mine is going today with his young son, he thinks his son will start supporting the Arsenal after this game as he doesn’t have a team yet, and he’s making noises, win this one Arsene, and you’ll win us a new fan!
So tomorrow is almost upon us, the inconvenience of Santa’s birthday has now gone and we can once again think about football and the Arsenal, which to be honest is always what we were thinking about in between mouthfuls of Turkey, mince pies and copious amounts of alcohol.
My daughter bought me a fantastic personalised history of Arsenal for Christmas, it shows newspapers through the history of our great club and it has my name embossed in foil blocking on the cover, top present. My boys bought me a match day scarf and a top razor.
And my wife bought me a pair of UGG’s (boots) and yes I will be wearing them for the game tomorrow. We will be meeting in the S&B or the Ché and will be letting you all know which during the course of today, for those of you who are up for a pre-match Peroni.
It’s our Christmas do so we’ll be eating drinking and merrying, so let’s hope the boys trash the boys from the black stuff. Cesc is back, Song makes a farewell performance and he’ll want to impress if the Melo stories are to be believed, I have no opinion, I’ve only seen him once, but I’m sure this will be the last time we see this small forward line appear this season at home.
I really think we are going to send out a message tomorrow, I think we’ll get a Christmas present from the boys to warm our hearts and lift our title aspirations, tomorrow I think we’ll see the Arsenal that we had hoped we’d see last year and the year before, tomorrow is destiny day, tomorrow is the start of the back nine.
I won’t predict the score as I know some of you get nervy when I do, however, I think we’ll score 3 more than they do.
Have a fun filled boxing day Grovers, tomorrow the fun begins!
A, Poyet and was his name hutchison or something I believe may be the alleged people involved then?
Need Bendtner back asap imo, and match fit!
Have a good christmas mate?
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avram_Grant&oldid=333792367
Yeah good cheers Zorro, yourself?
I agree about Bendy, he needs to get to 100%, big season for him. Hopefully we’ll sign someone on the first of January to provide more cover, unlikely though!
lol, too much bubbly, was thinking of ex chav player, not manager! Mind you, you can see why he has to pay for it!
Pretty good mate, apart from the lousy cold that broke on Xmas Eve! Still, kept it at bay with the alcohol!
It will be an interesting month for us fans! Going tomorrow, and looking forward to a nice trip to Pompey on Weds, easier for me to get there than to the scum, so one of my fave away matches.
Anyone know if Franchise is still looking for a ticket for tomorrow??
WENGER TO LAUNCH £12 MILLION STRIKER BID
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/652792/WENGER-TO-LAUNCH-pound12M-STRIKER-BID.html
Zorro, I just fired you over his e-mail details.
He has an iphone, I’m sure he’ll pick up any e-mails you send him!
Catch you tomorrow!
I’m hitting the sack!
GUNNERS ARE A SOFT TOUCH, BLASTS HUNT
BASTARD HUNT.
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/652718/Tigers-firebrand-outlines-why-he-thinks-Arsenal-wont-win-the-title.html
Yes you can zorro, though he’s got a decent enough looking other half i believe, ex tv presenter i think! EVERYONE seems to be ill at the moment, i’m the same.
Yeah I’m worried about tomorrow, though not got myself a ticket for any games in the near future, funds are very limited at the moment unfortunately, hoping to sort it soonish though.
Gignac/Benzema are the type of Henry signings that we need. Le Gaffer could do what he did with TH14………& win The Title, chamoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
…………..this year, well ok next(2010)
A
may is the end of the season ! FFS !
and where is rosicky if he isnt injured ?
78692, I hope I’ve spelt your name right
Hull are a relegation candidate, with a no release clause back to the PL
ethan
Mozart may have performed his last concerto with the Gooons
goonerpak
Good luck today, well not really, but I will show my Pakistani Gooner mate the utmost respect.
and A who said Rosicky was injured ?//
errr , oh eternal oracle or the Arse , wenger your profit said so
But the injury worries are mounting, with influential captain Cesc Fabregas a doubt due to a hamstring problem. The Spain international has been missing since the December 16 draw at Burnley and withdrew from training on Thursday due to the problem.
“There is still an uncertainty about him,” said Wenger. “He was supposed to practice on Christmas Eve but he still had some pain in his leg.
“We still don’t know if he will be available for the squad. It is 50-50.”
Tomas Rosicky remains out, along with full-back Gael Clichy (back) and Johan Djourou (knee).
However, there is good news for Wenger with Armand Traore ready to return after his hamstring problem.
Anyway off to do some stuff. Bring on Villa
yeah ethan, vp is probably out for the rest of the season, that was always likely to be the case!
Rosicky was injured, just getting up to 100% at the moment, not rushing him back to try and protect him a bit….
I assumed from what you said about his being out for the season that something had come out about his suffering some serious injury in the last couple of days, I’m guessing that isn’t the case?
GG as much as i like both RVP and rosicky ,
if the pricks are never available i think we are just on a hiding to nothing ..
replace and move on …
all this down time is turning into LIMBO …
we have been in limbo for 3 years now ,
waiting for quality players to pull on their boots ..
sorry the time for real man management is upon us .wenger is a patient man ..
however im not
huh ethan?!
I just asked you what you meant about Rosicky being out for the rest of the season?! I never said he was fit for villa??
A
no, he has had no other injury apart from his ongoing one …
which can be classified basically as his whole arsenal career ..
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Arsenal-boss-Arsene-Wenger-lining-up-shock-swoop-for-Manchester-City-star-Craig-Bellamy-Exclusive-article268591.html
lol, the Mirror are great when it comes to transfer rumours
Ah ok ethan, good good! You worried me for a second!
yes A no chance of that one … BELLAMY .
and why would bellamy join us anyhow ?
he is keeping ade on the bench
and doing ok for his club ..
gignac is more viable .. and realistic
to me , it rings true more so of a wenger style signing . than bellamy ..
A
also no need to worry about rosicky ,
as im sure like it, or not.. he will be more OUT than IN regardless ..
history is a hard common denominator to ignore
i dunno about that ethan, bellamy and ade aren’t playing in the same position, bellamy plays wide left for city, no idea why that would help us!
The whole story is from his being on the bench today for Mancini’s first game, and the fact that he was one of the players who supposedly protested at the Hughes sacking, but Mancini says he was just keeping him fresh, and they’re friends!
He couldn’t play centrally for us anyways, very silly rumour!
I agree, Gignac would be a typical Wenger signing, hopefully confirm it on the first of the month and i’ll be very happy!
plus IF wenger is to strike quick and get a striker in , the rumours should already be churning …
We’ll see ethan, if he features in just half the games between now and the end of the season then he’ll be a very valuable asset for us. Remember until the summer his injuries over the last few years were all caused by one serious misdiagnosed problem that’s now been fixed. Hopefully from now on he should be fit more often than not, though I’m sure he’ll still pick up regularish niggles
ethan the rumours mean nothing at all! They’re nearly all just made up totally! Rumours have come out though that we’re already in talks for Gignac, Huntelaar, and even still Chamakh despite his insistence that he’s going nowhere until the end of the season!
well , what ive always said to you A is , what wenger goes for and what wenger lands , is sometimes 2 differing factors . and it heavily depends on the ROOT OF ALL EVIL – money …
he likes A LOT of players A, but if the other club
doesnt bite over the pittance he offers more often than not regardless of compatibility with
our brand of football , they will give him the finger ..
A
ethan the rumours mean nothing at all! They’re nearly all just made up totally!
———————————————–
sure i agree some are… some have substance to them .. some might be only 50% of the parties are interesting to negotiate . some might only have a player hear say to go by …
And remember wenger has just recently said he isnt going to buy anyone .. AGAIN..
its a fucking circus .. a veritable smoke screen of rumours to cover up whats going on ..
but one thing rings true usually if they are young and french with wenger your always in for a shout ..
The vast majority of rumours are non of the above ethan, just 100% made up by journalists!
Wenger never said he isn’t going to buy anyone, he’s said everytime he’s asked that he’s going to try and buy someone, and the only way that he won’t is if he can’t find anyone.
Gotta say it’s very good news that Ancelotti says he won’t sign anyone, as well as Fergie, though with the latter I’d never take him on his word, with Ancelotti he says if he breaks his word and does sign a striker, then he’ll run around naked in the snow, so I trust him to an extent! Gotta think Utd are in some financial difficulties if they don’t spend in January, especially with Berbatov out for a month now! They’ve got their Diouf blokey, but can’t imagine he’ll be able to do anything
and if any of these rumours are still alive by next week , you can bet some sort of talks have been entered into .
even if it doesnt go to fruition , as a purchased arsenal player ,keep an open mind A ..
because sooner of later with time ticking down
wenger will have to buy a striker .. told you that pre season , that he would have too ..
and now after RVP is crock’ed again , and dudu as i thought might struggle .. and ade gone ..
common sense prevails ..
fraid not ethan, they’ve been repeated on a weekly basis for weeks, doesn’t mean anything with regards to whether anything has actually been entered into!
I know that first hand, my job for a little while not too long ago was to make transfer rumours up for one of the main English newspapers!
Rumours mean literally NOTHING, whether they’re repeated or not.
I quite like the Bellamy rumor by the Mirror. Quality striker and his linkup play is vastly underrated.
Could never play centrally for us though Pat…. I don’t mind him as a player, he’s effective, and would be good for us on the left, as he is for City, though we need to concentrate on getting a central striker before we think about anything else imo.
The Bellamy rumours have all stemmed from his not starting today though, which has been cleared up by Mancini supposedly
well trust me A i know when my club needs players ..
so keep an ear out ..
1 of these rumours in the next few weeks
WILL BE TRUE !
A, Bellamy was an out and out striker before this season though. He can play through the middle.
Who are we linked with, thats somewhat realistic?
Dzeko, Gignac, Chamakh are the top 3 candidates I think.
I read a Benzema rumor today as well, but I’d rather have Higuain.
You’ve got to imagine so ethan! Can’t think of any players we could sign who havn’t been covered by a rumour at some point! REALLY hope someone is brought in as early as possible when the window opens, Gignac would do me, though not be overly exciting
i think ANY player who wenger signs wont be over exciting … he will be a YOUNGISH – TALL – with potential , striker ..
like nasri .. tipped as a future great , in short another POTENTIAL player with skills …
it wont be someone we need ..
it will be someone for tomorrow … AGAIN !
Yeah Pat, though not really, he was someone who always played with a forward who suited him, he couldn’t play centrally in a front 3 imo.
I don’t see Dzeko as being realistic, and I wouldn’t want him anyways….
Chamakh too seems to have been accepted as being genuine in no chance of his moving until the summer, so guess he’s ruled out too!
Gignac is someone who has no reason to rule him out.
Carlton Cole is another rumoured player but would probably be overpriced.
Saha had some rumours, though I’m not sure whether that would be likely.
From the rumoured people Gignac has to seem most likely, but anything could happen with any of them!
Where did you hear Benzema? I’d absolutely love us to sign him, quality play. Higuain is awesome too, though I reckon Benzema would do better in the central role for us. Still, very little to no chance of either of them being available, and if they were they’d cost way more than we’d pay!
agreed pat …
Dzeko, Gignac, Chamakh are all potential signings you can see wenger making ..
all in the french liga .
pretty predictable …
id still like to see if we could secure hunt’s for half a season , it would go a long way to proving to me if he is what we NEED !, or not ..
I still wish we signed ben arfa instead of nasri. Always rated him higher. He’s struggling a bit now, but thats more due to the fact that he doesn’t have a good relationship with the manager
no way ethan, anyone we bring in will be for right now! The only reason Wenger is so keen to enter the transfer market is immediate needs, not because he’s just signing anyone! It’s another Arshavin type situation, lets hope he has the same success in solving the problem!
Dzeko doesn’t play in France…
Gotta disagree totally there Pat!! Nasri is an amazing talent, I reckon he’ll follow in Pires’ footsteps with us. I like Ben Arfa too, but he’s got real attitude problems, and isn’t as good an all round player as Nasri, doesn’t have the same intelligence, just has more tricks.
Wouldn’t have minded us getting both, but if I had to choose one it’d be Nasri
well if you believe the pre season hype of SAF wanting to bring in benzema for the leaving ronaldo , then if man U do make a bid NOW , and wenger was interested in him …
i can understand if wenger trys to secure him ,
as its a now or never moment ..
either secure the player you like or have him play against you …
i can see some substance there only from the fact that he’s a great player and french ..
i can see wenger putting in a half assed under priced bid if indeed saf trys to secure him .
Benzema isn’t available, and if he was he’d be a good £35-£40 mil plus, WAY out of our price range….
Though I wish that wasn’t true. Hopefully he doesn’t set the world alight between now and the summer, we can bring in Adriano just temporarily for the rest of this season, and Clichy goes to Madrid in the summer with Benzema coming our way, sorted!!
Ben Arfa is much more direct and takes players on. We have enough intelligence already, we need ability.
Nasri is sooooooo slow
He’s not that slow at all Pat, though Ben Arfa is quicker. You can never have enough intelligence, you want every single player to have exceptional intelligence then everyone is interchangable! Ben Arfa is a talented player though, I wouldn’t mind us adding him to our squad, though not much space for him at the moment!
Moses scored again today. Is he a winger?
Adriano is an interesting one; imagine if AW could resurrect his career!
Plays as a forward or a winger Pat, he’ll never be good enough for us imo.
Zorro I reckon he’s already resurrected his career to an extent in Brazil, giving him 5 months at the Emirates to really fight for his world cup place would be awesome though
You can never have enough intelligence
———————————-
oh yes you can , have you forgotten our rap as 1 pass too many ?
or pedro’s crab football observations .
thats what too much intelligence gives you ..
looking for the perfect goal , when you could just feed AA23 inside to set up a killer strike .
we need a clinical edge , a striker who can deliver , and if we scout around im sure there are several who fit the bill .
and yes they will be pricey but old mugglar hill-wood recons we got all the money we need .
a balance of clincial finishing plus wengers passing game is the mix that won us trophies ,
and whilst personnel has changed the management is just the same .
so it tells you we need a better class of player,
and yes times have changed the EPL is more competitive , well champions adapt ..
and so far we are the worst of the top 4 to do so .
Belamy is a cunt but I’d take him. Probably just what we need.
a cunt I mean
ethan part of intelligence is knowing when to be more direct, crab football is a result of a lack of intelligence rather than too much intelligence imo.
I agree, we need to be more clinical, but we’re the top scorers in the league this season, i’d say we’re the best of the top 4 in that respect rather than the worst!
This season chelsea, utd, and liverpool can’t make or take chances to save their lives, though we’re far from perfect in those regards too.
I was a big fan of Ben Arfa, I thought she was great in the golden girls
AA23 lol Quality joke.
Laters fellas
Good work ZorrO
glad it wasnt wasted
no the joke isnt wasted .. but you are
Pat Says:
December 26, 2009 at 23:58
I still wish we signed ben arfa instead of nasri. Always rated him higher. He’s struggling a bit now, but thats more due to the fact that he doesn’t have a good relationship with the manager
———————————————————
Spot on. Of the emerging three, Bena Arfa, Nasri and Benzema, Ben Arfa has far more natural ability than either of the other two.
Goodplaya says it best, Nasri needs a niche. Not as good a passer as Fab4 or Rosicky; neither is he as good a dribbler as Arshavin.
His style of play doesn’t remind me of Pires at all. Talented undoubtedly, just don’t know what to say he brings to the team on a consistent basis.
ben arfa – benzema – dzeko – Chamakh – and many more are far better than what we have currently .
not sure why wenger keeps on grinding on about
ONLY IF WE CAN FIND BETTER …
i think its a case of not being narrow minded,
because most fans can plainly see there are far better options out there (than eboue-diaby-denilson-big al ) , but the club wont spend the fans money on QUALITY ..
and until that trend is BUCKED !
we wont win anything ..
i am not blinkered by the fact that we have won a few games recently .. im more than happy with our position in the table currently ..but history tells us we finish our seasons off poorly .
and i hope if wenger brings in a name or 2 that trend might be bucked too !
we might even jag an EPL title if people play worse than us , i think that is what wenger is banking on …
but it wont make us the best team in the league whilst we have substandard players continually included in the starting 11 .
that will only change with young players making the step up in time or a more instant approach of SPENDING !
i used to be concern just about WINNING TROPHIES,
now im more concerned with sporting the right personnel each game and sticking to a game plan ..
as its the only way back ..
if i can see that happening , with the RIGHT players being given the opportunity (which currently they are not ) then long term the team should take care of itself .
As a lifelong Arsenal fan of 50 years and a teacher of 7th form maths I think have just discovered a new formular : Ethangunner = Twat.
Though I expect others have had this sussed for a while.
We can and will turn over Villa. Life is good and Merry Xmas to all true Gooners.
primary school teacher….BHWAAAHH ! PHATTT !
and you think im a twat , fuck at least im not a shit kicking snot eating child minder ! !
shame you couldnt get a higher score on your SAT’s you might have been an Architect
oh heres a new cyclonic law ,
willo is not recommended for cyclonic regions
it is prone to twisting and getting blown off by the wind
and oh another thing
i didnt even need 50 years to work out your a cunt either
and you only wrote 4.5 lines
(did you see my nice use of decimals?)
ethan are you american?
I cannot wait for 13:30.
Hope you all had a great christmas.
Wow that GK for Birmingham was something else.
Poss team for today someone? Kinda forgotten our injury list (apart from the usual). Cesc, good to go?
Almunia
Sagna,Vermaelen,Gallas,Traore
Denilson,Song,Diaby
Nasri,Arshavin,Walcott
Cesc was 50:50, so it would seem rash to play him.
Thanks Chozzer.
If Cesc isnt playing, I guess you will be right. I’d rather see Rambo in that line up in place of Den, but there we go, or Nasri in midfield instead of Den, with Vela up top.
Right off now to get things done before KO.
We have made it to base camp, and today we start the push for the summit!
NEW POST!
See you there then mate!
@ Ethangunner
I’d like whatever you are on pls, up all night?
Anyways -reason AW doesn’t buy some of these players that seem obvious to us is that he is not only watching how they play on telly but their overall conduct on and off the pitch, what they can bring to the TEAM and making sure they will not be disruptive in the dressing room. When he makes a mistake he ships them out (ade).
Today’s game will be tougher than we think, villa are hard working team. Plus I notice that most times when other teams drop points we end up doing the same, but hope today is different.
Have a good’un folks!
Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.