The Emirates Cup began in earnest when Celtic kicked off against Lyon. The Scot’s being sponsored by Tennent’s is a synergistic dream for a club with a fanbase that is 72% borderline alcoholic. Perhaps United could pick up a sponsorship deal with Ocean Finance and Chelsea with femme fresh?
I can’t really be bothered to give you the Celtic run down. Bastos scored a screamer of a freekick and Celtic managed to level things late on. Both teams looked very poor to me.
The main course served us up a very exciting line up. Sky had us down for a 4-4-2 with Chamakh up top with Arsh. We knew that wouldn’t happen… Frimpong was playing a make or break game for this season and I felt it was a great opportunity for Kozzer to show us his worth.
Well, it didn’t take long for our Frenchman to make an impact. He was straight in with an early tackle. In fact, he was everywhere and looked strong in the air.
Chamakh was linking in like he’d been with us forever, Frimpong looked at home in the middle bullying the Milan old boys at times! He reminded me of a young Seedorf in the middle of the park. Very promising.
Flamini was in a menacing mood, he jumped on a deflection and managed to hit the bar! Gulp… Frimpong showed his youth with his day dreaming.
Our old boy was at it again when Frimpong allowed him to ghost into the danger zone. If he’s available for 4mill, I’d have him. As for booing him, well, people should look into why he left before doing that. He should have been given a new and improved deal after he impressed at left back in the Champions League… instead he was shown the middle finger and asked if he’d like to play for Birmingham. Think before you boo people…
Wilshere was quiet, his style reminds me of Hleb. Intricate interplay between team mates keeping the ball moving at pace. I’m hoping he’s a little more direct than the shot shy Belarussian.
Our opening came from a super run by Arshavin, he powered through the middle showing great strength, that was matched with a super finish from Chamakh who showed good run timing and great composure.
Fabianski was off his line quick to deny Pato a one on one opportunity. If Fabianski gets the chance to be number one this year, I’m hoping he’ll feel less pressure than last season. I’d still like a proper keeper in who he can learn from. His kicking was terrible this afternoon.
Chamakh and Arshavin interacted cleverly with a super Moroccan style drag back! It nearly ended in a goal but a smart save denied us.
Vela looked sharp when he came on, he broke free of his marker and just shot wide. I’m expecting a big year from our new number 11.
Pato nodded in late on with a header. Yep, the set piece monster had reared its ugly head again and that was a timely reminder of our problems last season. I think Vermaelen was the perpetrator. Having a giant leap is ok when you’ve got time to react, not when you’ve miscued your run. I can’t help but think the keeper could have been more decisive.
Randall nearly made amends the other end but was denied twice. I really like him… it seems I’m alone there which I find grossly unfair. I think he has bundles of aggression, he moves the ball around nicely and I personally think he has a lot of skill. People don’t like him because he looks like an arrogant Essex boy. Well, screw you lot, I’m backing him. This is like Nik B all over again.
Randall, you’re the man… don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Fabianski made a great save late on to deny Zambrotta.
The game finished in a 1-1 draw and you couldn’t help but think that was a touch unfair considering our possession dominance.
De ja vu? You bet! Still, not bad considering many of the big guns are yet to return. I mean, imagine what we’ll be like when Denilson returns to the starting line up!
Jokes aside, Tom and Koz looked like they’d formed good partnership already. Dreams of Mertesacker or a £16million replacement for Sol are wide of the mark for me. The trouble is, it’s easy to get carried away after watching your defence do well against a team who prefer to play football. How will the new boy do against Stoke or Drogba? Still, he does read the game well and he possesses a lot of technical ability. That’ll see him through until he packs on some muscle.
Arsenal performed well. The brutal truth is that we’re not league winning material. We need at least another centre back and we need a proper keeper. Without those two the best we’ll do is third…second at a push. We are Arsenal, we’re the third most profitable club in Europe and Barca is our bench mark. We’re no where near them and that’s the truth. We should aspire to be like them. This team isn’t there yet and won’t be until Wenger starts paying market rate for top quality.
I always thought the idea of saving through the boom years was so you could pick up bargains in the bust years? Well, we’re in the bust years, no one has any money and we’re crying austerity? We should be able to go to most clubs in Europe and nick their players. Marseille have absolutely no money and they’re not the only ones in a similar problem.
Arsene’s analogy about buying a house is rubbish. If someone has a house worth £250k and you offer £100k, they’ll tell you where to go regardless of their situation. That shouldn’t mean you give up and sulk because someone is savvy to say no. What you should do is up your bid until you get your man because a good player is a good player regardless of your perceived value. If you don’t think a player is going to turn into a world beater, why are you looking at them in the first place?
Get your bulging cheque book out Arsene and make us a force this year… our lack of assertiveness in the market is embarrassing. The fact we’re a couple of weeks away until the season starts and our squad is still defensively weak is worrying. No wonder Cesc is asking questions. You’d think this summer debacle would have spurred Wenger into action… apparently not… so far.
Celtic up today. We should smash them. However, a word of warning Grovers, don’t be taken in by good results against weak teams. These results won’t matter a jot in Christmas when we’ve resorted to calling Tony Adams out of retirement because we’ve only got one recognised centre back!
See you in the comments!
Instructions
1. Click: ‘Fantasy Football’
2. Select your team and confirm
3. Register your details
4. Click join a mini league:
5. Enter the following details
League Name: Le Grove Premiership
PIN: 8001936
not sure about verm as captain either to be honest. he was my choice at one stage but hes not very vocal on the pitch is he? id like a captain like sol that wears his heart on his sleeve and is always talking and encouraging the players around him. fab never did any of that and wasnt the best captain in the world. verm doesnt seem to say much either does he
Team for next season
————-GK (unknown)————-
(Sagna)/Eboue-(Koscienly)/?-(Verm)/Djourou-(Clichy)/Gibbs
——————–(Song)/Denilson/Frimpong————
—-(CESC)/Rosicky/Ramsey—-(Diaby/Nasri)/Wilshere—–
(Chamakh)/Walcott—–(RVP)/Bendtner——(Arshavin)/Vela
[4-3-3]
JET, Eastmond, Nordveit will make appearances in the cups (Carling/FA)
Cosmo, I am under no illusion with regards arsenals title credentials. I realise we are quite a bit off winning the league for varous reasons. I just dont accept that our first team struggled against Celtics reserves.
We dominated the game when we had our stronger team out in the first half and start of the second. Yes Arshavin and Eboue are regulars and were on at the end but if Arsenal are your second team then you too should realise that Eboiue is a pretty awful defender and he doesnt really play full back anymore so he isnt a regular there. Also, Arshavin being on the pitch means nothing because he isnt a defender and thats where we collapsed.
cos it seams to all if this team problems defensive ,the fact last season with evon all of strikers were injured one point on the season despite that they still managed to score alot of goals
I think we should move RVP back to the wing and Chamakh in the centre.
I think Chamakh is stronger and his hold up play is better.
is Chamakh a starter? Hes gonna have to displace Nasri and RvP
hairlikespaghetti says:
August 1, 2010 at 23:39
.
Anyway, well done on the victory, and finally, can any of you answer me a question (need to settle a bet with my mate)?
I was at Bergkamps debut at Highbury – vaguely remember it was 4 or 5-2 against Southampton I think – can any of you confirm the scoreline and whether Arsenal played in their away strip that day?
—————————————–
DB10′s debut was against MiddlesBrough. His scoring Debut was against southampton
Maybe this link would help
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/bergkand-breaks-his-arsenal-duck
Personally I wish DB10 Stayed forever.
From the looks of today, we’ve got decent attacking quality but our defence is well and truly fucked, and that’s on a day when Almoooonia actually played quite well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX6dpiisuhg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0JTPOY0IYg&NR=1
The Scorline was 5-2.
Bergy scored 2 goals.
My guess is it will be a front 3 of
Arshavin——Chamakh——-RVP
Nasri/Diaby—–Song—–Cesc
———–Back 5
Difficult to assess performances- when these games are not played with EPL intensity- more about fitness. The defence was only crap when it came to defending one cross-we were more vulnerable in front of the back 4-hence the two shots which hit the bar.
This is not surprising considering who we had in midfield- 3 reserve players who tended to get brushed aside.
cheers David – I thought it was his debut – one last question – did you still have a terraced section in 95?
anybody see the goal akinfeev let in yesterday. Comical
Ray in SF says:
July 30, 2010 at 04:23
I think we should have a sweepstakes…
which Barca c*nt is the next to read the random phrase generator
my virtual bet is on Messi, he’s been quiet for a couple of days, which is like a couple of weeks for a hobbit
xxxxxx
Breaking Gossip on BBC this morning…
“Lionel Messi believes Cesc Fabregas is likely to join him at Barcelona before the summer is out. “I hope that the matter can be resolved soon and I’m confident that in the end it will be resolved in the way that Cesc can be a Barcelona player,” the Argentine told Spanish TV station Cuatro.”
I take no pleasure in this obviously
yes you do
United’s Anderson lucky to be alive after car crash apparently. The Mancs can’t fucking drive, can they? First Ronaldo and now Anderson
i think you guys missed the 2nd half. I’m Arsenal/Celtic supporter, though i confess to be more Arsenal. I thought Celtic dominated the 2nd half and I personally was a bit dissapointed with the Arsenal performance. Obviously, being a Celtic supporter also I will defend them, however, Arsenal should be beating them with ease. how knows, perhaps Celtic are half decent this year. I hope im wrong with Arsenal and correct with Celtic. Great match today UP THE GOONERS AND HAIL HAIL
Pat, Jet and Bendtner haven’t been invited onto Top Gear yet either
xxxx
busted sixx
‘course I do
Iniesta next? Outside bet on Pique to be prat-of-the-day
Geez, what a bipolar activity watching our team is
great possession and some very sexy play, then to almost lose a three goal cushion
I like what I’ve seen of Frimpong, Kosielny and particularly Chamakh
I would rather we got Keown back as defensive coach than got a new goalkeeper
another CB, Mertesacker/Subotic class, non-negotiable
Anybody like the look of Arshavin…. his movement with the ball was awesome, and his through balls and passing as well, pity they had to fall to Theo… am really worried for him
I like the way Arshavin links up with Nasri & Rosicky
haven’t seen the latter pair play together yet
watching dennis bergkamp and our present players is a fucking nightmare,not one off them could lace his boots.
Well said Paul Mcdaid,DB10 would be embarassed to know that wankers like Diaby plays in our glorious club.
Jagura i wonder what your comment will be if we win the league you such a baby
Abnet,under Wenger it wont ever happen,and I would be one of the most gleeful Arsenal fans in the world,when that senile loser Wenker is kicked out of our glorious club.
After Wilshere’s glorious performance yesterday,it is almost sure that he wont last more than two seasons here,because Wenker doesnt like English talent.
NEW POST!
Hey you soft southerners were lucky against a celtic reserve team.
Igor Belanov from Srcsza in Moldova. Yes, story is true. ARSENAL TO SIGN MOLDOVAN KEEPER ON THURSDAY
(AP- MOLDOVA – Aug 4) Arsenal’s bid to sign the talented Moldovan international goalkeeper Nilain Levroji in a bid to solve their ongoing goalkeeping crisis moved closer last night with the talented stopper flying to London for a medical.
The 23-year-old from Iskra-Stal Ribnita will join the Gunners in a €5million deal to be completed on Thursday.
Levroji has played twice for the Moldovan national team but has been rated as one of the top young keepers in European football.
News of his transfer to Arsenal was confirmed on Moldovan TV yesterday (Sunday).
Arsenal had been expected to sign Australian international goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from fellow London team Fulham but the deal has fallen through with the West London club demanding €4million for the 37-year-old.
Levroji will join fellow Eastern European Emir Spahic at the Emirates Stadium for the new season.
Arsene Wenger has confirmed he is looking to bring in at least one more defender before the close of the transfer window and reports over the weekend suggested Spahic, 29, was a possible target.
“The most important thing is that so far the negotiations go as planned and that the transfer could be completed soon,” Spahic told SportSport.ba.
ends
ends
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1iSo6c15oE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9lJiaYDiAQ&annotation_id=annotation_73445&feature=iv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH3oOVKt0WI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf70pLv7ZUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9ZTiymoC5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCY5DCJAWw8