Give me bottle, vision, hardwork, attack mindedness and raw talent over 2.42 passes a second. Tonight, Jack Wilshere announced himself to Europe as the next big thing in a sublime performance by the real Arsenalistas!
Almunia
Sagna Koscielny Squillaci Clichy
Song Fabregas Wilshere
Nasri Chamakh Arshavin
The team Wenger put out for Champions league new boys SC Braga was an exciting one. Clearly, the coach wanted to get Arsenal off to high scoring start and he entrusted Jack Wilshere over the more experienced Denilson. A sign the pecking order has shifted?
Fabregas was scythed down just outside the box within the first 3 minutes. The refs were from Luxembourg, something I didn’t factor in when making my point about foreign refs yesterday. Cesc had another shout for a spot kick moments later but it was clear he just mistimed his run after a lovely little Arshavin chip into his path.
Squillaci’s pace was tested down the other end and he came out on top. Braga was a team full of pace, our centre backs had to be on their toes if we were to get a clean sheet tonight.
Jack and Cesc linked in well with Jack chipping just wide.
We eventually won a penalty after Chamakh allowed the keeper to clatter him (From a Cesc through ball). Cesc stepped up and smashed it home for 1-0! His celebration was slightly muted, almost embarrassed! It was clear this team weren’t up to Arsenal speed.
Jack Wilshere’s directness and tunnel vision for attack was increasing the pace of our attacks to a blur at times. Cesc is clearly the master, but Jack looked every bit the man to be his understudy.
Arshavin was very sloppy misplacing the sort of passes you’d expect and £80k a week player to be making. What’s the point in getting upset though? After 30 odd minutes, he decided he quite fancied staying onside, accepted Cesc’s pass and banged the ball inside the keepers near post. I know what you’re thinking, who’d have guessed the Braga keeper could make it in LaLa Land and be a professional footballer?
Carlton or Felipe?
3 minutes later Arshavin chipped the ball to Chamakh, he chested it to Jack who backheeled it deftly back into the Moroccans path and he obliged by burying it into the bottom corner. Superb football by Arsenal!
The odds were 14/1 for Arsenal to win by six at half time. If I was one of those gambling types, I might have put a £1 down! The only thing I could criticise at half time was the crowd turn out… mind you, I’m sure people have valid excuses, times are tough!
Nasri lunged in with a two footed stamp on the foot of one of the Braga players. Naughty… I hope the physical contact police noted that one down.
Arshavin found himself in acres of space in the Braga box, he picked out Cesc who headed home for four! Another contribution from the Russian.
Cesc nearly landed his hattrick when he interlinked well with Arshavin. Only a flying goal line clearance prevented his chip finding its way in.
Arhavin picked up the ball on the edge of the box, slipped Vela in who…. you guessed it… chipped it over the keeper for 5! That boy has so many chips to his name he could get a sponsorship deal with McCain!
We knocked the ball around in second gear, Cesc found himself in space again, he laid Vela on who slotted it into the near post again. No chip this time. That made me sad. 6-0 though? My oh my!
In conclusion, I have to say… can we play you every week? We destroyed Braga who are no mugs. They defeated Sevilla and Celtic scoring 9 goals in the process. We took them apart and it was incredible to watch.
Defensively there wasn’t much to do, but that’s usually the case and we usually end up conceding. So a solid backline display. And a back line that’s beginning to look impressive.
It’s difficult to get too carried away, we often peak early in the year and Braga didn’t play well. The challenge for Arsenal this year is to avoid further injuries and to continue this streak of form when the cold weather sets in. We seem to have more steel so far this season, I said that last year, but I feel more so this year.We’re also looking far more clinical. Can we take it to the next level… can we consistently play at the highest level? Can we grind out a one nil against United or Chelsea?
Not a question for today.
Lets take it one game at a time, enjoy the victory and look forward to Sunderland at the weekend!
I’m off to the Q&A this evening… it’s going to be lovein.com after that performance!
Ratings
Almunia – Commanded his area like a raging bull. Shame no one came into it all game! A sweet claim in the box late on gave him. 7
Sagna – Looks to have a bit of 2008 about his game at the moment. He’s not too bad going forward and he’s very solid defensively. 7
Kozzer – Looked assured at the back. Had to deal with a few high balls and had to manage the offside trap. Did everything well tonight. 7
Squillaci – Showed he had pace and demonstrated his experience by taking the lead at the back. 7
Clichy – Not his best performance, a little reckless at times and he nearly got us into trouble in the first half. He’s a touch calamitous? I hate to say it about a player I like… but he really is a bit of a disaster to watch sometimes. 6
Cesc – This summer I wasn’t fussed if Cesc went. No one is bigger than Arsenal. Tonight, it was apparent that no amount of money could replace his vision, movement, finishing, productivity or passing accuracy. Quite simply put, he is the best in the world in his position. He’s not worth £50million, he’s worth £80million. A superstar with a bad ass edge to him now he has that tattoo. He was the true star of the show, if JW can become half the player Cesc is now, we’ll be spoilt not only as a club, but as a nation. 10
Wilshere – A superb game from the young Englishman. He’s gone away to Bolton and come back a man. He played with hunger that would make Nasri jealous, he created, he linked and he nearly scored. His speed of thought impresses me, his willingness to bundle forward but also track back excites me and the fact he is still only 18 gets me into a bit of a state… footballistically of course! An excellent game. He’s going to be a helluva player… is he first choice back up for Diaby now? I hope so! 9
Song – He played well making some nice direct passes, however, when the commentator declares he’s not really a midfield anchor, you have to worry. He still irritates me with his erratic challenges and some of his odd passes. He’ll deal with teams like Braga, it’s the better teams I worry about. 6.5
Nasri – Well, someone had to keep things ticking over! Tonight it was Nasri, his passing was immaculate and he complimented the form players very well tonight! Great return to the team. 7.5
Arshavin – My boss told me that when he was at a big American corporation, no one cared what you did as long as you were delivering. Then he fired me. Jokes aside, I don’t care about Arshavin’s 56% first half pass completions stats, I don’t care that sometimes he looks a little lazy… because the man pulls it out of the bag. He scores, he assists… he’s magic. 8.5
Chamakh – I think it’s already settled. We all love him. He works tirelessly, he is fast, he runs into space, he can head the ball and he can win penalties. Oh, did I mention he’s not too bad at finishing either? The guys a steal, shame we didn’t have him last season. 8
Subs.
Denilson – So glad he got on the pitch. Can’t wait to find out how many passes he made… Yawn. 6
Vela – Well what a turn out eh? Comes on for 20 odd minutes and bangs 2 goals in! I hope this is his break through season and he proves the doubters wrong. 8
Fuck me! is this needed in a commentary:
Joe Cole swings a clever ball wide right but he’s not at Chelsea any more and it’s Maxi and not Drogba who stretches to control. No chance.
watching liverpool struggle in the europa i cant help wonder if joe cole is regretting his money based choice this summer
I am not sorry to see Liverpool struggle.
Matter of fact. It would make me very happy if they started fighting for relegation.
Champions League 07 #Cheating/diving/C8nts
incesc
we didn’t need him anyway.
rosicky, arshavin are miles better. and we got jack.
remember the chelsea fans saying he became shite.
sOOO, WHY isn’t Traore featuring in the Juventus line up? Juve has lost some class, anyone still want Melo, anyone?
Cant stand that Rat faced c8nt
Traore picked up a knock. Think it’s a hammy or something.
oh my god, oh my god why can’t we have some awesome like Lucas.
Traore picked up a knock, I think it was a hammy or something. He’s out for a few weeks.
I bet when Wenger steps down the board will be after Hodgson.
Shoe string phukers
Whoops…. repeat with the office server having a late inthe day meltdown.
Na, Wenger will pick his own successor, so you can expect a 17 year old from Djibouti.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1312740/So-Arsene-does-point-Sportsmail-looks-Wengers-claims-Arsenal-need-better-protection.html
yeah
with all the protecting he does of all these kids and how he fears hurting their progress, I don’t see how he leaves the club to someone who will shake things up too much.
It will have to be someone who he trusts to keep his ‘project’ going, or someone who lies well enough to him to make him think they will continue his project. heh
Haha, I just had time to read Fat Sams accustaions…seeing all of you posting it, i wasn’t bovered, but i managed to catch it on Yahoo…I bet when Valencia snapped his ankle, Sam was smacking his flippers together going “oiw oiw oiw”
To find his scuessor you’d have to understand why he was installed as manager in the first place.
LO..Oh c’mon Gambon, not from Djibouti, maybe Seyechelles…h aha
You’ve got Keown and Townsend there taking two sides of the argument, we use the word ‘Cunt’ all too freely, but how does anyone come up with Townsends side of the argument.
“Yes, Wenger’s had problems with players having horrible injuries, such as Eduardo, Aaron Ramsey and Abou Diaby, but this week we have seen Bobby Zamora and Antonio Valencia suffering similar injuries and their managers haven’t moaned about it.”
Is he pruposely being obtuse ?!
or from Swaziland…lol
Its all bullshite and im sick and tired of the pissing in our faces.
Maybe the average fan isnt intelligent enough so they follow OGL like sheep and carry on every word he said.
fuck that the lying “dont ask me any questions only the ones i like” cunt…..when it comes down to it you dont trust the youth to do shyte.
You give them opportunities early in the season like in preseason when Wilshere tore the Arses of the likes and Madrid…but when it comes down to it and we are bare bones you dont give them the chance.
What did our poor Carlos have to do to get a game last season? Was he in Mexico the whole year? Rubbish.
The reason why you didnt buy a midfielder was because of frimpong…now its because of Wilshere.
Stop lying through your teeth.
This is disgusting and frustrating.
The fact is youre a tight arsed old fart that constantly shoots himself in the foot.
And while you sit there smilling to yourself you have the audacity to call ALmunia quality.
God forbid Chamakh gets injured and we dont have Van P or Bendt Balls.
I bet you he’d play Arshavin upfront than to give JET a chance.
Hypocrite.
Wenger redefined success as 3rd place. And all the sheep follow.
Sorry i mean to write Wengker there.
Nicely said David, even if we are in a positive part of the season. Maybe repost it during a bad spell and you’ll get applauded.
David, and that is where I agree with you, FINE don’t buy, we have all these youth and you use them as the reason you won’t buy, but yet we see 1,2 or 3 of them at meaningless times, the times we need the bodies, a la playing Arsh as a CF when we could have thrown JET in or Force Sunu in, viola! we start to shoot ourselves in the foot.
Stu – Just for future reference, are you being serious there ?!
David – your views are so depressing and negative it makes me fear for your mental health. it may be time to visit your GP to discuss seeking some form of therapy, or even medication.
Maybe not the applauding part but the rest…yeah, why not.
sorry iam still far from convinced that this team has the rugidness the real acid test will be chelsea game so far this team has not realy beeen tested
WHat is there to disagree with? Wenger did say he wasnt buying because of Frimpong, then he got injured and tonight Wenger apparently said it was because of Wilshere. If Chamakh gets injured too we are fucked, the youth dont get played when we are short on numbers and Almunia isnt quality. Whats there not to agree with. Perhaps it was put across angrily but other than that the points were sound.
Lol, anyone that isnt in love with Arsene has mental health problems.
What a twat.
settle down gambon
The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger saw his team win the Emirates Cup yesterday, and was pleased with the performance of the team, but especially the two youngsters, Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Frimpong. So much so that he has decided to keep them with the senior squad this season instead of loaning them out again.
He was asked they had changed his mind for the season ahead: “A little bit because at the start of the season I was not convinced that Wilshere and Frimpong could be central midfielders, defensively.” he said. “There is a little bit more competition than we expected there to be. We were considering even maybe going on the market for a midfielder. We will not do that now.”
“Wilshere has done really well and I believe Frimpong has done really well as well. He is a bit less of a dribbler but he is a fighter and he is a winner. Here you have a boy who can choose between England and Ghana, so if I was in your place I would have no hesitation and invite him very quickly to play for England. I think he will have a big future. Both of them will have a big future. At what level is very difficult to predict but both are fighters, winners and are ready to fight for the team and have quality. They have normally a good future, but let’s be cautious and not make of them stars before they are stars.”
Jack Wilshere was out on loan at Bolton last season, and he impressed Owen Coyle so much that he wanted him back for another year, but Wenger is now happy to keep him at the Emirates. “At 18 years of age you need a bit of patience. I believe he is stronger than last year, physically. The few months he played at Bolton has given him something. He will be used at the Club, of course.”
But the Frenchman admitted again that he will still be looking for another defender to provide cover for Vermaelen and Koscielny. “We still need a centre half of course. We are still short number wise. Just number wise. We need at least one.”
If Chamakh gets injured thats the third of our 3 target men type players out, do we buy a 4th ?!
As for the youth don’t get played ? How far are we supposed to go here ? Do we bring up players from the under-16′s ?!
How the fuck did we move from the happy times from this morning to this bitching now?
Anyone with any notes or video from the Q&A?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f6PuKlMzJ0&fs=1&hl=en_GB]
They’re beginning to be posted on Newsnow.
This team is surfing nova wave at the moment.Chamakh in particular has made the difference to our attack.His commitment is immense….he puts in so much work that you begin to admire the guy for his work ethic. There’s no way RvP/Bendtner will walk back into the side…at last we have real competition upfront and midfield.Diaby can play as the DM now and has looked encouraging in his few outings.There’s a lot of plus points this season….Fabregas stayed and is looking supreme….Walcott is beginning to look the player he showed last season in glimpses.Wilshere has improved.Rosicky has found his mojo again…he is looking top dollar.Our defensive options look better.
I agree that we need to take everything step by step,but we’r on such a high that its hard for feet to touch the ground atm.However I believe this side can beat ManU Spurs,however imo the real test will be City & Chelski.
Also hope that Spurs field their kids as well,so we dnt get knocked out so soon…..
My thoughts on the daily mail article….well done to Keown for highlighting the problems that Arsenal face. Townsend’s attitude is widely shared by the FA hence why they have not enforced stricter punishment on such harsh tackles. If the FA allow teams like Stoke to target players rather than play football what sort of message does that send out? That the FA don’t give a Fukk abt developing talented footballers and wants to remain In the dark ages.And it supports the thinking that if the other team is better than you, its ok to hack them down.This is directly linked to the poor supply of English talent and why England will never do well at international level.
ROFL
Hahahahaha
Timao talks about Mental health…and Arsene talks about Mental Strength.
Glad you stood up for the sheep Timao.
Negative/Depressing/…if youre easily depressed from reading 1 bloggers post then maybe you do need mental help.
Im sorry Im sick and tired of the same ol bullshit.
I was seriously hoping for some Accountability this Q&A.
Just read the details from the Q&A
Was a farce by the look of it, not one challenging question.
Where’d you read them Gambon?
So we should wallow in a state of depression? I’m sorry but pessimistic people are deluded. Way out of touch with reality.
Plus they are pussies. They are afraid to be dissapointed so they set their standards low. Man up.
I bet they are the kinda guys who never got the hot girls because they are afraid of rejection.
The only people talking about depression are the sheep that cant keep their noses out of Wenger’s arse.
That should spell Wengker. Sorry
Oh yeah. And another thing about pessimistic people is they can never carry out a debate without resorting to verbal abuse.
Not enough words in the D&G dictionary?
Sorry that should read pussies
pussimistic??
Sorry, that’s one Pedro himself would be proud of.haha
thats great Rohan. Pussimistic. Ha ha
Glad to see almost everyone is still savouering our win over bragga I hope it continues long after the spuds game.
Just re watching the Utd v Rangers match. Does Darren Gibson do anything on the field apart from taking 30 yard shots?
I know the more positive posters take a lot of shit on here and fair play to them for copping it. Makes this such a compelling site. But when you get mugs who are pissed off after a six nil caning where we played some stunning football you have to wonder what peoples hateful motives are.
Stupid cunts.
Gayvid
that was for you and your queer lover Faguar.
Lol!
Just kidding mate, you are a top poster.
Once bitten, twice shy. It’s early days yet.
I can understand why people want to be prepared for the worse as over the years we’ve heard the same old things from Wenger, there are area we failed to address in the summer and there are still questions to be asked of our squad.
But it’s good to be positive and relaxed now and again.
be vigilant of the soft bigotry of low expectations
Thats the problem with sheep.
They cant see past 1 meaningless game in September.
Watch them cower away and wag their tales behind their god Wenger as they have always done when October comes for the past 5 years.
That rant has absolutely nothing to do with spanking a useless team that was making a cameo at the CL.
It has everything to do with that Joke of the Q&A session.
But no worries. Gloat in your little small pathetic meaningless match.
when April comes!
And that should read Wengker!
I would play this team for the Spuds….
…………………GK………………………
EBoue…….Nordveit……..Djurou……….Gibbs
…………Eastmond…….Denil/Randall??……
…JET…………….Wilshere…………Sunu/Watt…
…………………..Vela…………………….
Afobe comes on for Vela at some point…….
As I said. Setting expectations low so as not to be dissapointed. Pussimistic.
And u say gloat in my little small pathetic match? I will. We won comprehensively and played some massive football. I have every right as a FAN dont I?
As for the Q&A. I like the way they did it. Dont want to have idiots like last year ruin the entire thing. I stil say that if ur dissatisfied with the going ons at the club,just stop going to games. What is standing up in a crowd trying to humiliate the man going to achieve?
Any way I’m gone to bed. Blaa blaaa
David,
Wengker. Brilliant that. Did you think of that all by yourself?
I think he might have. Great play on words there. Wenger+wanker=Wenkger. Fabulous. Never heard that one b4
Mornin/Evenin Grovers.
That was the shortest sleep in history Sixx pac
hey who needs eight hours right?
Really off now. If I can stay awake for the next hour I will. Otherwise, I’ll catch up in the afternoon. Night/Morning/Evening
For all those people that defend the French when me and Geoff lay into them Fuck em I’ve been stuck on the Tarmac at gatwick for nigh on 2 hours cos them cunts are striking again i’m not even going to that shit hole, should have let the Germans keep em
Morning all
PMSL……….G’day Chippy you Francophonic old Mungler you
Funny comment…
why?
we have played some weak opposition. Pool was 10 men, blackpool wit 10 men. Blackburn was a good result. Bolton was against 10 men. Braga were real weak. Sunderland will be a proper test. Our defence might get some pressure and we can see how we cope. And what happened to Lorik Cana?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7vaJZR2Jwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKgHIl-3HsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn5vsq8wriQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ2bspqZaFM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-m6EBVAcfg&feature=channel