This Saturday welcomes in a game of proportions so huge, it makes Kolo Toure’s backside look positively tiny. Beating Liverpool effectively eliminates them from the top 4 challenge, leaving us with only Chelsea and hopefully an imploding Spurs to contend with.
Big Kenny will feel like he’s on the front foot with the scousers after taking silverware for the first time in an age. Arsenal will feel buoyed after taking their point leading North London rivals to pieces at the weekend. The game feels like it’s geared up to be a classic. I feel like we owe them spanking after last seasons Eboue led implosion.
Key battles for me are as followed
Andy Carroll vs back 4
Sure he’s a useless lump, but we’re habitual at making talentless strikers look brilliant. Koscielny and Vermaelen need to be first to every ball and they need to be savvy to the knock on to Suarez. Gallas did a great job with Crouch a few years back by bullying him everytime he went up for a long ball. Maybe similar tactics tomorrow whilst whispering ‘sh*t haircut’ in his ear.
Luis Suarez vs players of ethnic origin
Can Luis keep his mouth shut for a whole 90? Who knows. What we can be assured of is a nasty performance from one of the craftiest strikers in the world. He doesn’t give a crap about his image rights, he just likes winning. He’ll scratch, bite and dive… He’ll drop deep, hang off the last man or have a crack from distance. He needs to be watched by midfield as much as he needs to be watched by defence. Arguably, he’s their best player.
Dirk Kuyt vs Gibbs
He’s a wideman more unfashionable than Velcro work shoes. But some how, he always manages to cause problems. For me, he’s the ginger Sylvain Wiltord. Hardworking, a bit crap… But ultimately a match winner. Gibbs needs to be aware and he needs to work him out early. Ill discipline will be punished so a true focus needs to be had on positional awareness.
Song vs Liverpool midfield
We’re not talking about a hugely talented midfield here, but we are talking about a group of players who can pass if left alone. Song needs to play like a beast. He needs to show the same discipline that earned him world player of the decade amongst some supporters after his second half Spurs display. He needs to to be the hype.
Robin vs Liverpool
They don’t call him the one man team for nothing. It’s crucial he’s not tired from midweek and it’s paramount he’s given good service and he delivers. A couple of screamers will suffice even if that means creating them himself. He only has 13 games to go… He’s like Rocky in the tenth round… does he have it in him to push on for the knock out blow to secure the 4th place title belt? We’ll see…
Theo vs full back
He’s not had a good season, that much is clear. However, he’s had decent periods. What better way to secure a massive summer deal and a place in the England squad than putting on a blistering show of form for the run in? We need the Theo Geoff believes in and we need him to arrive now.
Arsenal mental spirit vs occasion
We’ve suffered so many false dawns of late, most of us have gone back to bed. Spurs should be the season tipping point. Anfield should be an inspirational place to continue that run. Motivation should not be a concern. If the boys truly do have mental belief by the bucket load, let’s see it, not just hear it churned out in a ground hog day press conference after the match.
I’ve got high hopes for the weekend. Spurs have a horrible history of getting spanked by United and they’re without Gareth Bale and Scott Parker. The odds seem stacked. Hopefully their mental spirit is still out drinking away its sorrows. Chelsea are still a worry, but with the players fully aware one more loss will spell the end of a manager they all dislike, you have to wonder whether the ingredients are there for a 12 game unbeaten run.
This top four finish is ours for the taking. We just need to deliver on expectations and we need to deliver now.
How do you see tomorrow panning out? Let us know in the comments!
P.S Apologies for the sound quality of the Podcast yesterday, you live and learn. I’ve very kindly been offered the use of a studio next time. I’ll be in your ears with high definition sound and possibly a new song I’ve been working on with Lily Allen called ‘the mental spirit is strong’…
Have a great day!
back and to the left….repeat after me….
Frenchie
Not a lot of people realise this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5L_x6RHE4s
Lurch
Are you Beyonce now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EwViQxSJJQ&ob=av2e
Funniest post in a while, amazing what a week long spud bashing high can do for the spirit.
Lurch
We’ll see if she can change anything. I won’t hold my breath. If she couldn’t do it before how is she going to do it now with no power or share backing behind her? It’s a symbolic appointment that is more backward looking than anything else. If she had anything to offer it would have materialised when she was a proper board member.
It’s a vanity move on her part in a way having your cake and eating it. Still having some affiliation with the Club whilst you’ve sold them out and enjoying the benefits. I’m not that keen on her you might have noticed.
Ben
If we win tomorrow it will be like we’re on angel dust
come back in a week it will be like we all won the lottery LMAO!
2301,
Beyonce? nah im more the other 99 problems.
I’m not overly confident that she will effect any change per say, more that the event itself signals a kind of intent otherwise unseen to this point which is interesting.
They’re either hushing her up with the carrot or respect her for potential contribution.
lets see.
2301-
do you watch nicholas cage movies?
Gunner – see I do disagree on some key points there:
Well, you might disagree with the strategy, but I’d say the club has an incredibly clear strategy (albeit one that it is having to rethink because it hasn’t resulted in trophies.) The idea was to build a team of young players who would grow together and see the club as ‘home’. The strategy was to identify young (cheap) players with potential and mould them into top class players. As a result they would be loyal to the club, and to the brand of football we played. Where they misjudged was in thinking that young guys of 21-23 would feel enough loyalty to not be swayed by promises of bigger money or bigger glory elsewhere.
And despite modifications this strategy is still very clear. As I say, you might disagree with it, but its still a clear strategy.
They are certainly high, but as a red member I don’t feel priced out from seeing games. And in the end we still charge something close to the going rate in comparison to say Spurs.
Certainly a problem, but you do get the feeling the club is aware of the problem and is fixing it. With the glaring exception of Djourou, almost all of the underperforming players are being slowly marginalised and shipped out. And I still understand the motivation for the high contracts at the time. The idea was to prevent more Flamini situations happening – a very good player feeling under-valued and going elsewhere – but the club misjudged how certain players would progress
Yeah, its definitely you – well, you and a lot of people on this forum! I find it infantile how many people can’t understand the need for the club to keep its cards close to its chest when it comes to a range of issues. This naive obsession with ‘lying’ – when people are talking about, for example. the attendance announcements, and especially when we are dealing with the tricky matter of transfers – is, for me, one of the weirdest forms of hysteria on here. I just stop listening when people moan that the club website puts a positive spin on things. I mean seriously, is there a single company website on the whole fucking web that DOESN’T paint as positive a picture as possible of the company it represents!
And actually, our club is one of the best when it comes to fan interaction and accountability. Anyone who has REALLY wanted to know how much (or how little) money we’ve got available, for example, has been able to find that sort of thing out for years. It happens that a lot of nonsense is then written in the press and blogs confusing the matter, but still…
It’s weird that you feel this when it has BY FAR the most links to its past on the board and in general than pretty much any other English club. And in many ways its current focus on keeping spending tight and not spending beyond its means dates back to the 1930s.
Ironically, much of the discontent stems from the club’s unwillingness to CHANGE it’s identity.
Well, that’s football, and has NOTHING to do with Arsenal right now. It’s not as if you can identify with all those wonderful Man CIty players instead!
Yes, its been an unfortunate side effect of our lack of trophies combined with the financial pressure of the early year of paying for the stadium. Players want to leave and, for the most part, we’ve found it hard to turn down the money.
I’m not sure that’s an example of lack of values. Just a realisation of how the wind was blowing. Man City were going to build a top team no matter what. I’d say we’ve done pretty well out of them personally…
And again, show me a football club that is some haven of values! The world of football is fucked in the head. If you want values, you’d better watch a different sport. Actually, Arsenal is about as good as you’ll get when it comes to at least ATTEMPTING to preserve its values…
Let’s be clear, there were almost ALWAYS deals on the table for loyal servants who wanted to stay. I don’t buy this thing that that is all Wenger’s fault. Bergkamp is the single greatest player I’ve ever seen in an Arsenal shirt. If the deal available was good enough for him, it should have been good enough for the rest of them! Sure, there’s the odd occasion where the club cashed in, but mostly its a story of ‘loyal’ servants wanting to fuck off elsewhere!
Here is the reality – modern football is ALL about money. If it wasn’t people on here wouldn’t be moaning about wanting Red and White involved. 4th place brings VAST amounts of money into the club. Without it we’d be even less competitive. So yes, 4th place is as important as a trophy. Sad maybe, but it would be naive and stupid to run the club as if it wasn’t…
I assume you mean loyalty to players? Meh, its frustrating when they don’t fulfil their potential, but I’m not sure players get NEARLY as many second chances now as they did early on in the ‘project’. Actually, I’d say we’re being WAY more ruthless nowadays.
And yet if you look at the nationalities of the ‘dross’ its hardly HUGELY weighted towards the french. Denilson, Djourou, Bendtner, Rosicky (til recently), Arshavin. Vela, Walcott (for some), Song (for some). None of em are French!
I agree, though you’re maybe little harsh. Certainly never been his greatest strength, though
Meh, not really sure how I feel about this one. It’s not as if there’s been some outstanding candidate for the captaincy who has been ignored for the past 8 years or so…
Wow, longest post ever! Well, you did list a lot of points!
Frenchie I’ve seen some of them any in particular?
SUG – look up homosexuality in hip hop there’s a few surprises in there. Don’t have any respect for most of them anymore. Sean Carter chief mason amongst them.
Albo
I appreciate the response.
We’ll carry on this conversation tomorrow. I’m gonna call it a night.
OOO Woo,
The Mental Spirit is
STRIIAAAHHOHOHOHOWAWAWOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOONG!
BAHHHAIIIIIBBBBBBAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!
I have the faith Gunners. Enough Negativity!
Get out those amethysts, light up some myrrh & frankincense, Om Nam Shivayh
Let the aliens beam down the good vibes, I saw nasa’s recent moon photos and YES,
a big cannon banner in front of the strange pyramid structure on the edge of the fra mauro crater for ALL TO SEE
When I drove to Spain last week my ipad2 slid out of my bag and cracked, it still works but I need a new one, I hope the 3 is launched next Wednesday.
I NEED A NEW ONE!
New post!
Albo,
I think you’re right in some respects.
But the most important thing people miss is that once the stadium is completely paid for, there are DEFINITELY going to be massive signings. I don’t think we decided to move to a bigger stadium for nothing.
Also, 4th is definitely NOT a trophy. football’s about money yada yada yada…NO. with arsenal, i think by now whoever remains a fan of arsenal is because football’s about the brand of play, and the pride at history, and supporting a footballing culture that represents everything that is RIGHT in an otherwise evil and unfair world.
it’s the case for me at least.
WBA 1 – 0 Chavs !!!!! Bye bye villa-bollocks.