Even after Theo Walcott’s stop start season, I have been backing him wholeheartedly as I have always believed he will be an England and Arsenal legend one day.
He has been injury plagued since his arrival and as you know, I put a lot of that down to a slight frame, still growing and playing against big boys. The same happened to Owen and look at him him, but many people say it didn’t happen to Rooney, however, he was and is a big lump so getting kicked wouldn’t affect him.
I think Theo needs to start improving ot he will miss the bus to South Africa, he has had the ability to shoot taken out of him, it seems to be an Arsenal trait, don’t you dare shoot, pass.
When Theo was at Southampton he shot quicker than he could think, that was his trademark, as was Nasri’s and Arshavin’s, the Arsenal way is stopping Theo from becoming a legend, he’s played out of position and doesn’t shoot anymore.
If he goes with England it will be as a winger, so it will be two of Phillips, Lennon, Beckham or Theo. Theo son, get your dribbling and shooting boots back on, today would be a good time, easy opposition, Aaron to be avenged, points to be won and Capello to impress.
Diaby is back today and so I expect is the hapless Denilson, shame, I would give Eastmond a go or even experiment with Vermaelen. Whatever happens I would play Campbell at the back, I think he will only get fitter and stronger.
I’m going for a big score today and hope that we see Bendtner continuing to improve, Arshavin to partner him up front with Theo out wide is my guess.
Almunia
Eboue Campbell Vermaelen Clichy
Rosicky Cesc Diaby
Walcott Bendtner Arshavin
So no predicting as usual but I see us scoring 4 more than them.
So we are being linked with German midfielder Ozil, good player, but he’s in the Cesc mould isn’t he? So do we need him, or is something happening we don’t know about?
I’ll sign off now, but before I do, spare a thought for Shaun Wright-Phillips, can you image having a step dad like Ian Wright? His boy doesn’t get picked so he’s now added Mancini to the list of managers he’s had a go at, Sven, McClaren, 3 chavs managers and Capello, Ian, do you not think there is a common denominator? It’s you, or it’s Shaun, they can’t all be wrong!
Have a great weekend Grovers, this is me signing off.
Also, Nasri showed today that he could be as good as Cesc if Cesc chooses to leave.
I want David to write the match report!
thought u were saying i was stupid gooby. Cause if u were………………….
Good point Rohan, Nasri was world class today, that’s the best I’ve seen him play.
Mayank…Are you sure about that.
ja, no vermy???
nasri MOTM for me
Nasri played just as good as that in several matches last season, even performed well at DM last season…he’s best central – CM or CAM even DM
BENDTNER your a lucky lucky boy.
That should be the title of the next blog Pedro.
Fair play to the fans for not booing him. I have never seen such wastefulness from 1 striker in 1 game before. He really could have scored 7 goals today!
There are going to be no easy games for us, no teams going to lie down and let us walk over them, we’re going to have to earn it.
Bendtner’s scored in his last two games, had a shocker today, but who cares when others who’ve been criticised step up.
I think Nasri’s taken stick for the wrong reasons, when he plays on the left he tries too hard to do what a good right-sided midfielder should do in trying to get back and defend/ run the touchline, and it’s hard with players like Rosicky and Fabregas in the team to see as much of the ball as he’d like, he stepped into Fabregas’s shoes today and did well.
How good was Theo’s first time cross for Bendtner ? He’s got to get some praise for that and since we won, Eagles’s doing the Baggio skill to dissect our defence was pretty class.
relax sixx pac, i m always class when talking to fellow arsenal fanatics.
no need to feel hurt
Positives – 3 vital points, theo and nasri were superb – a tie for MOTM between those two, clichy getting better with every game, eboue played very well looks far better option than sagna now, arshavin scored despite playing very poorly hopefully will be closer to good form against porto now, a game closer to having song back
Negatives
Bentdner – fucking hell worst CF game i can remember makes me think of that pineapple haired guy who played for forest, eduardo – even worse than nik offers nothing at all, at least nik holds the ball up and is a problem for the CFs even if he can’t hit a cows arse with a banjo, cesc injury
Wonder what Nik will say after this game – he knows his starting place is under no pressure and he certainly played like that, but we have no other options so AW just has to stick with him, what a state for a club like us to be in, pathetic really not one decent CF at the club until RVP returns its just not right
3 points is all i care about.Bendtner’s finishing is a real worry.We can’t afford to miss so many chances against the likes of city fulham birmingham and all.
I MISS RVP
days like today show that Theo does have it in him.
But he needs to find some consistency and maybe if he can avoid a niggly injury, he might just do that.
Certainly a performance that is a good start in getting on that plane to SA.
Well Done Theo, a great game.
Nasri and Eboue not far behind.
Just wonder if it was Ade that missed those chances and Came off with a smile on his face some people would have a stroke.
Fucking Craig Fagan would finish those chances.
He really is an anti-talent for goal scoring.
hahaha fox showed arsenal 2-1 burnley and didn’t show arshavin’ in the highlights
Where do you play Cesc if you play NAsri as playmaker?
Cant have both. I thought the team did well today. Eduardo and Arshavin were not up for it, they knew we would win anyway. We will see another team against POrto
I hope we don’t continue this trend.I am already really really worried about the hull city game.Denilson has shown that he is pretty useless and Bendnter is going to continue this we might be in trouble.
Eduardo not looking right at all.
Would have kept Nic on.
You just cant shake Nasri off the ball. Well done boy.
Glad to the heights for Theo. Much more of that please.
Where have I heard that Cesc, Nasri, and Rosicky are all able CMs? Get them in the middle and buy a proper winger.
Supporting Arsenal always keeps you on the edge. Time to relax now. 3 points and +2 goals to boot.
Briliant performance from theo.Struggled towards the end of first half but apart from that he was brilliant.He is a confidence player.I am sure he will carry this forward in the next few games
If there was ever a game that we could be wasteful this was it.
Nikki B needs to really have a look at himself.
Nice win, I cannot wait for Chamakh to come in
No offence to Bendtner, he will obviously learn how to put the ball in the net soon-ish :S
The real tragedy about Bendtner is that he’s undroppable.
To see the best of Nasri, you have to play him in the middle! He loves that cesc role so well!
i fancy wolves to grab a point
David.. luckily it didn’t cost us anything!
Can wolves do it?
Man u without rooney!
2 years on the trott? What are the excuses now? That he’s young? That he’s just back from Injury? That he needs a run of games? That he’s low of confidence despite scoring 3 goals in the last 2 games?
Fucking useless piece of shite.
What if Chamakh is Cesc’ replacement with new team being –
Chamakh-RvP-Arsh
Nasri-Song-Diaby
just joking
yes david that’s true.
but i think he had an unlucky game, he would have scored 2 any other day
Anyways…great to see Theo have a blinder of a game. Never doubted the talent for one second.
Bendtner’s worst display usually comes when we play at home.Does reasonably well in the away matches
Gooby thats rubbish.
The only time Bendy has scored more than once was at the Championship team Newcastle.
bendtner did well though his finishing is atrocious..he’s scored 2 in the last 2 games he played for us,maybe he didn’t have his (pink) scoring boots i suppose..he did hold up the ball well and invite the midfielders to join in the attack,he did get into great positions too..just need to calm his nerves in front of goal..
well played theo,deservingly MOTM..he answered his critics and need to apply this week in week out and not just a one off..do that and he’ll be a great player..what can i say about him and eboue,best right side at the moment..these two are very,very direct and we kinda need more of those..
can we shut the fuck up about nik. Christ
…what I didn’t like was him smiling and taking it all as a joke…anyway, 9 to go guys, remember we won today! night all
JET scored 2 goals and made an assist. he is great player, trust me… also Simson and LJW scored . Simson knows how to scoree…
Nasri man of the match!
good game by Walcott too
Bendy….hmmm….he actually had a good game imo, inspite all them misses and that heavy first touch
he gets in great positions and has the height and strength we need in there and that header against Stoke forgives anything
PS Arshy and Eddy missed similar sitters
I fancy wolves to take all 3 points today.
If they stop that one trick pony Valencia.
diaby had a great game tooo
4-4-2 Vs Porto
B52 & Theo (with a capital T……for a while anyway) upfront.
Vela left, Rosicky right, Fab + Nas CM.
Don’t know about Vela’s injury though.
I’m worried Vela might leave, especially if he has a good World Cup he’s had a wasted season here with no indication of much more next.
Hope B52 stays as well – not worried about him scoring cos can’t have another day like today.
Maryann Chamakh pushing him down the pecking order might force his hand and I’d hate to see him playing in EPL for anyone else.
Thank fuck Almunia didn’t cost us today – close though.
Sylvestre was awful.
Can’t remember the last game I enjoyed, or felt confident during – maybe everton at start of season.
Come on you wolves!
wish we had that one trick pony
Eboue should play all our games at right back against bottom half teams when we don’t have to defend to much and when we want to play walcott cos he cant play with Sagna
Bendtner kept wanting it even if he missed chance after chance… Many strkers would have gone in hiding
no rooney for manure…
david,
if he didn’t score more than one yet doesn’t mean he wil not i nthe future
any news on cesc??
bendtner needs to score those…if he has to show tat he is world class….he has the touches…not a genuine goal scorer..but the chances he got..he should have scored 2 for sure….i din like the way he smiled…may be v were winning tats y we smiled…wat if v were loosing…i love bendtner..he adds an extra dimention to our game..but he has to score!!
that’s true swedish gun..sagna and theo has no understanding at all,but i guess on current form eboue gets the nod be it agaisnt the top or bottom half..
Post headline by Geoff today was positively prophetic.
Well done.
come on guys enough with the bendtner’s smile..i don’t take it as if he doesn’t care for the arsenal cause,it’s more like “fuck i’m shit ain’t i?? those were easy chances and yet i missed them,i’m shit right??”
Porto losing by 2 goals .. Not sure if it is a good or bad thing .. They could be the entire first 11 ..
Im not talking about Bendy anymore..for today at least…but its really disturbing how the lot of you are just going on about it like he has been any different from an absolute disgrace of a finisher infront of goal.
He might as well not even use his legs.
Six pac
Fuck no. Valencia is shite. Very easy to mark. He always goes to his right.
ferdinand and vidic playing
B52 (the bombarder??) was just pathetic today. As if his countrymen Jensen had put a spell on him. Funny nonetheless, but only cos we won.
Theo man of the match. If he keeps this up, I think he would deservedly go to the WC.
No wayne the cunt for the manc shits, I hope they lose and wolves score 3+!!
Wasn’t that at all izham, it was a good thing, a “how the fuck didn’t I score, even though I put in a good performance other than that”, and the rest of the team and staff, including pat rice, were saying the same thing!
Denilson is undroppable in AW’s head too
denilson is not undroppable doo wop. He was replaced by ramsey. Wenger only came up with this calf injury to not make it look fishy.
any updates from wenger on cesc’s injury ?
So how are the mancs doing without Wazza?
How hillarious was Bendtners performance today. Although if we didnt win i would have hunted him down myself.
Any news on Cesc. Hope it was just a precaution.
Evening all. Great three points. Also, I’m delighted to be wrong about Theo. Great game Theo. Best keep of Bendy’s back, as like it or not, we are going to need him. We’re all in this together if we have any chance of the league, and we do have a great chance. Off out again, have a great night all.
Nani deserved a red card here!!!
Crazy English people. Anything happens in this neanderthal league.
Rohan – I think it’s a bit harsh calling Walcott and Nasri underperformers – expectations around Walcott have been inflated right from the moment he joined as for Nasri he’s been rather underrated than underperforming IMO albeit not always consistent. The guy’s 22, he’s been played left right and center about the pitch and has turned up with preety decent shifts more than once.
Bendtner will come around, I liked that he had the confidence to understand his finishing was afwul, appreciate the generous appaluse he was given and will put his head down futher to work more.
Lineup for Porto?
Al
Sagna Gallas/Sol Vermaelen Clichy
Nasri Diaby Song
Walcott Bendtner Arshavin
Subs: Rosicky, Eduardo, Sol/Silvestre, Eboue, Denilson
Bendtner had an off day, it can happen to any player. Even Shava missed a sitter.
Wolves can get a point from this, even cause an upset if they believe.
totally agree. We missed him badly when he was out injured. He’s the only player in our squad who can score the type of goals he scored last week in open play and that in itself is so important for the rest of season.
so fucking ref errors when it’s the mancs. weak teams always face injustice when playing those cunts
Wolves looking better and better
wolves nearly scored
At least when bendtner is missing chances he still contributes to the team. I don’t feel we get that with eduardo.
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=1458723.html?
fabregas ..tweak of hamstring
doubtful for the porto game.
should have been wolves 1
Speaking of Eduardo, wtf was with him today. He was amazingly slow. Surely that cant be totally down to lack of fitness.
eduardo lost his pace he is always injured
Agree with that A, I dont think Bendtners smile coming off was meant to insult. I think he is amazed himself that he has not bagged a hat-trick. It happens to all strikers every now and again and Nic is no different.
I actually thought Nic had a really good game bar the finishing. He held up play well, got himself into some fantastic positions, and despite the misses, never let his head drop for a second. Huge effort from the lad. If he keeps playing like that and getting those chances the goals will come.
I actually never used to be a fan of Nic at all, but he is really growing on me.
It is actually a shame he did miss, as apart from that, I thought the team performance today was one of the best of the season. Sure we had our ever so frequent defensive lapse, but if we had won that game by 7 or 8, I dont think Burnley would have had a complaint. 3-1 flattered them greatly
Marks
Almunia 6
Eboue 8
Silvestre 5.5
Vermaelen 7
Clichy 6.5
Cesc 7
Nasri 8
Denilson 6
Rosicky 7
Theo 9
Nic 7.5
Diaby 7
Arshavin 7
Well done lads, play like that to the end of the season and we might just nick this.
Yeah Eduardo’s form has really deteriorated. When he came back from injury he looked faster and sharper then right now. We will surely need a contributation from him soon.
I actually have a sneaky feeling that Eduardo might leave us in the Summer.
Would be a shame, love the guy and think he will get back to his best, but I wonder if his heart is at Arsenal.
i don’t think bendy’s smile is an issue.
acctually i m happy he smiled, it showed he is keeping his head high and that he believes in his abilities
and btw united are a one man team!!
To be honest with you I think eduardo’s injury has completely fucked him up. Both psychlogically and physically. He has no pace at all, picks up injuries all the time and shy’s away from tackles. All understandable, such a shame tho. I hope the same doesn’t happen to ramsey.
And Nasri, if he can have a run of games in the middle of the park partnered with Cesc, he could be so much more influential. Had a terrific game today. Leaves Diaby out of the midfield then though so it has to be a situational decision.
ramsey got too much talent to fade away because of an injury.
fucking stokes…
I guess Nasri is in similar situation as Diaby. Both of them are central players being played out of position in the wings. They do not have experience of Rosicky and Ashravin to cut in the wings.
wolves deserve something from this game..
I agree with that Gooby, I am pleased he has his head held high. Sure he missed some sitters, but he has nothing to be ashamed of in his performance today.
Do you guys think Wenger missed a great chance to sign a goal scoring forward. It is very harsh on Bendy, Edu and Carlos. But, may be one assured finisher would have provided strong belief to other players and fans at the flag end of business.
Hopefully gooby.
We were all saying how quickly eduardo had recovered and what a tough boy he was tho. Fucking thugs make me sick. I’m sure diaby wouldn’t have got the marmite status if that wanking hadn’t have done him. It’s taken him 3 years to start to show his potential again.
Eduardo has always been what we know he is, a lethal finisher with box awarness. Take the sharpness away from in front of goal and he really will not be a team contributor. I would be happy to keep him as a 2nd/3rd choice striker though, he may rediscover his finishing class at anytime.
Just hope it comes when we need it most..
izham
yes they do. united are playing like burnley. they are clueless
Nah i don’t think Wenger will give up on eddy just yet
for bendy it was de ja vu, Jensen has some jinx on him. Still the amount of chances he gets whenever he plays is unbelievable, he finished well for denmark don’t know why he doesn’t for us. Anyone else think he finishes better away from home?
I think we should lay off bendtner. He’s all we’ve got until the end of the season. It’s best we give him our full support. It was nice to hear the fans doing that.
LAzer
It is what I hoped for earlier in the season. I wanted Nasri and Cesc just infront of Song.
He can alternate with Diaby who again played well today. Really pleased he is getting his game together.
Like Song the tail end of last season, Diaby has made huge strides forwards in recent months. He fucking terrorises the opposition when he makes runs forward, as does Eboue strangely, they just cant deal with it.
On paper this would be my Arsenal best 11 at the moment
Almunia
Eboue, Vermaelen, Campbell, Clichy
Song
Cesc, Nasri
Rosicky, Bendtner, Arshavin.
Even when Gallas comes back, I honestly think I would prefer Campbell, He is an Arsenal Legend, and knows the feeling of actually winning something at the club.
Does seem that way Alex,
But I think he will come good. Nic has the right attitude and once he gets a couple, I think the goals will come flooding in.
Agree with Alex and others.
One player who deserved a chance is Edu. He has been through very tough times in his life more than one occasions. He weathered them and came back strong. May be he is not as lethal as few years back, but he still can help us as a 2/3 rd choice striker for few minutes on the pitch.
I hope the mancs don’t win. I hope rooney has a bad injury too.
Would be beneficial to B52, Theo, and everyone else if the same team played together for more than one game in a row. Hope Wenger keeps B52 up front for the rest of the season even ahead of if not alongside RVP (I honestly believe that I am the only one on this site who doesn’t particularly rate RVP! Even most pundits say how much we’re missing him and even TH14 today.)
We need his presence and I wish Wenger would tell him to stay in or around the box and leave all the build up stuff to the rest of the team.
He was undoubtedly taken by surprise by the quality of crossing today but I ‘m sure he’ll be ready gainst Porto (please Arsene, if you give Saggy a game v Porto tell him not to cross halfway line.
Telarse
man RvP is one of the brightest talent in football in the last few years
Scoring is not something you can teach. You either have it or you dont.
You have to have the intelligence to know when to go for placement instead of power or the skill/techinque to get your shots on target.
Cant imagine the slating Eboue would get if he was missing those chances.
Wloves almost scored there!
Anybody has link for Arsene’s post match interview ?
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6007121,00.html?
Haha! sometimes it is wise to withhold judgment for a while. A player needs time to come back into his game. Theo not only can shoot, but also gets a good goal!
you have been shown up like Chris Waddle, who claims that Theo does not have a football brain.
Well, let us say such putting down is good for Theo…
Bendy’s been rather very unlucky than shit today IMO, if he couldn’t score we’d know it by now and fact of the matter is he has scored some good ones. He seems to be missing the easier ones somehow but that you can learn since it’s about composure and application.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-fabregas-has-a-hamstring-problem
Thanks Sabeel. Hope Manu continue to play like this for another 20 mins.
yes random…hopefully wolves can nick a goal asap
wolves are taking the ball to Manu’s box at will. Manu looks like arsenal defending 1 goal lead for last 10 mins
have a feeling we might see OG make his cameo soon
You just know that Man Ure will nick it though
Fuck sake.
fk From no where
what asap stands for?
shit scoles. Sorry guys
fuck! scholes scored, stupid defending
Fucking hell, Man U have been completly dominated and then they score, very very lucky… hope Wolves can equalize, they deserve to be winning.
Hehehe Gooby, it is As soon as possible.
try http://www.urbandictionary.com/ for any more such weird abbreviations.
Come on Fulham!
I think now it is all 3 points for Manu
somerandomgunner…… Like arsenal defending a 1 goal lead with 10 minutes left? Surely utd dont look that bad
thanks random
i was having some tricky interpratations to make!
Not now , just before the goal.
even then random. They still didnt look that bad.lol. Thats laugh out loud gooby. Lol
le-grove is wierdly empty today for a match day. Is it cause Theo had a good game
What’s the added time gonna be… 30 seconds?
OMG
Fuck Sam Vokes.
wolves is so bad its a pain to watch
how on earth they got their twenty something points is something I dont understand
lucky bstds
Wolves waqas miles better than man u. Sure that we are better than that loads of lucky!
What the fuck, HOW did he miss that..
does theese players get paid????
freaking unreal
I hate Sam Vokes. He’s the most hated footballer to me now. Don’t know how unbelievably pissed off I am at that shit. Fuck him.
*was
He only had to pass it into the goal…..
Hey Sixx, evening all
It always seems to be slower when we win. Less to complain about I guess.
Not a great performance today, but a wins a win, although we could have won by 6 or 7.
Nasri briolliant, Walcott very good with ony a few glimpses of his ‘old self’ (ie forgetting ball, miscontrolling etc). Lets hope he can kick on from here….
Anyway not stopping …not long back from the game, and have to go pick up my motor…long story !
Wolves with and excellent chance to win that game.
Useless pricks
Fuck Sam Vokes. Go retire from football.
Man u is a really bad side without rooney!
Bloody lucky Manc..
SS,
and we should have won by 6 or 7 – I can’t get on B52′s back, as he was so unlucky today it’s unreal…
what some people seem to forget that a few yards difference in placing the ball is caused by half an inch difference in striking it with your foot/head…
haha. Sounds a long story sharky. Were u singing for nikky too
Just back from watching the game with me mates. Almost flipped a table at the shop when Bendtner kept missing, chance after chance. It is a fact that I love optimism, but after watching what went on today; I was slightly disgusted.
What really ticked me off was that Bendtner wasn’t even working hard enough to win the ball back. There was one instance where after a bit of jostling for the ball in the opposition box, the ball was up in the air and Bendy merely watched as it came to rest on the chest of a Burnley player.
Lastly, he didn’t seem remorseful for the woeful performance after he was switched with Edu. He was giggling about and didn’t seem to care. Might be a misjudging of character at my end, but I didn’t really like that nonetheless. He could’ve put a more serious and regretful expression and show that he actually gave a damn.
But here’s my last say; Bendtner has still kept us in the league if you think about our past few games and he does make an impact. I still appreciate that and I’d like to see more of that in Bendtner. I’ll give praise when it’s due and constructive criticism if required. All in all, great day for Arsenal with 3 points in the bag!
Well done Theo! You’ve proved a point and we hope you’ll continue proving the critics (and some of our own who’s had doubts about your ability) wrong with the kind of performance you’ve shown today. Good show lad!
*forget is that
easy nuh tariq. Dont even know who sam vokes is. He looks a lot like bendy though
Nasri, Walcott & Alumia decide to start contribute to the team effort this season shock. Its like three new signings! Denilson as poor as ever.
It is a poor Arsenal team BUT Utd and Chelski arent playing well. Its really is up for grabs now. Another 9 wins and the title is ours.
I am getting visions of ’98 when we went 10 in a row and won the league with 2 games to spare.
we won the game mashallah…
hopefully the manc and chavs drop pts sooner rather than later..
9 more games to go..we win that game by game inshallah
C`mon Arsenal
& Nite all..take care..wherever u r..
good afternoon sabeel
Naah man. I don’t think I ever been so fuckin pissed off in ma life (well yes I have) I was ready to jump and shout goal. I just got a HATRED for United. Like I mean HATRED! I done bruk up one stool on one pusseh hole batty man united fan and slapped up some others. Hate them yo!
Tariq
you sound well rugged
Just back from the game was behind the goal in second half.Felt very sorry for Nikki he seemed to be trying too hard.The crowd were really good to him though.