A deserved victory to say the least for the Arsenal today; a difficult game and fat Walrus faced Sam Allardyce’s regular anti-football techniques (surprise surprise) almost got them something from the game.
Supporters and pundits in this country constantly babble on with the same old slur towards Wenger and Arsenal fans about how we want to play “pretty football” all the time and “it’s a man’s game”. Then these same dumb no brain-celled uneducated bunch of assholes complain why England don’t do well. Well here’s a hint – BECAUSE YOU APPLAUD PEOPLE LIKE SAM ALLARDYCE!!!!
Spain, the world cup winners won it because THEY PLAY FOOTBALL!! All this “putting your foot in” and “the English way” will get you nowhere and for the next 40 years England fans can look forward to being humiliated on the international stage as often as Harry Redknapp twitches.
How can you claim a right to even be considered as favourites in a major tournament when teams play route one long ball football?
A more funny story just emerging as I write this is that the gremlin face Tony Pulis complained to the FA because Wenger said Shawcross pushed Gomes in a corner. Oh boo-hoo, poor Ryan Shawcross will now have to be picked up by his mother and taken home to be breast fed incase he cries. Is this Tony Pulis for real? Under which law or rule do Stoke City expect to have Wenger punished? Graham Poll was on the radio saying how the incident should have been punished because it WAS a foul on Gomes. Why don’t they file a complaint against him?
The players from Blackburn and Stoke City and teams that follow the same “footballing” philosophy will never make it on an international stage and if they do, then expect them to make a fool of England in the international stage.
On to the game, credit has to be given to Theo Walcott (brilliant goal that actually made a hole in the net due to the sheer power on it) and more importantly – and this is not so often but Manuel Almunia. His decision making and strength in the box today was fantastic and one would wish if only he could do this well week in week out. His organisation of the defence as well as battling quality with dirty players like Chris Samba showed he may be finally maturing as a keeper. Ofcourse there is still a long way to go and the gut feeling is that he probably won’t be able to reproduce this on a regular basis.
Further credit has to go to Bacary Sagna. He didn’t have the best of seasons last year but he is once again showing the qualities he had when he first signed for us.
It was a sort of baptism of fire for Laurent Koscielny and he was at fault for the goal Blackburn scored. He decided to get too tight to E. Diouf and was left for dead as Diouf cut in to square the ball for the equaliser.
Andrey Arshavin is finally pulling his weight and showing steel rather than being lazy. Though he hasn’t had the best of games against Liverpool, he is putting in the effort and that is very important. If he can utilise the wider areas more often rather than always getting on to his right foot for a shot, he can create more. Nevertheless, he did produce a bit of magic using quick feet to take on 3 defenders within 5 yards and showed good strength being just 5ft 6” and up against defenders over 6ft.
It’s time to relive the game on Match of the Day and the feeling is jealous old Hansen will again slate Theo even though it’s now 4 goals in 2 games.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Gunners Await Another Year of Mediocrity in 2011
The moment is finally here. Despite the poor World Cup witnessed, most fans have waited for this moment in particular – 2010/2011 season!
As glad as I am with the start of the new season, this is the most pessimistic I have been for years about the current squad at our disposal. In terms of attacking talent, there are very few teams that are blessed with talent going forward as we currently posses in our squad. The addition of Chamakh will no doubt give us depth and a varied attacking option up front.
And after a poor season in 2009/2010, Samir Nasri is looking more mature and hungry to prove himself after being left out of France’s disastrous World Cup campaign (a blessing in disguise I’d say). Andrey Arshavin could not have asked for a better fixture to kick off the season and most Arsenal fans are sweating on the fitness of van Persie even before a ball has been kicked.
Our cause for concern is our defence. Arsenal lack depth at the back and the acquisition of Koscielny is not going to be enough to compete. It is highly unlikely that Koscielny will produce the same quality as the Verminator did last season. He has played in the French second division for some time and has not spent long in Lorient – who are not the most attractive of contenders in the French league. It will take Koscielny time to adjust to the premier league and it seems the only other defender we have is Djorou.
The goalkeeping issue has been a major problem since Jens Lehmann left. Almunia and Fabianski have easily cost us enough points last season to hinder our challenge for the title and it is about time Wenger realised that neither are anywhere near good enough. He has insisted for a long time about how good Fabianski is in training. However, it means nothing to pull off world class saves when it doesn’t matter if you cannot repeat this on match days. His goalkeeping has been nothing short of abysmal in pre season and let’s not forget the poor display he put in Anfield when Andrey rescued us the unforgettable 4-4 draw. As an Arsenal fan, the summer has been most frustrating as the first issue that needed dealing with was the Goalkeeping position and on the eve of the opening game against Liverpool, most fans are unsure as to who is going to start between the posts.
Arsenal have been linked with Schwarzer and one of the Manchester City keepers. It is a sad time when fans get excited over signing Schwarzer who isn’t the greatest of keepers. He is however a lot better than Almunia and Fabianski combined.
Those of you cursing the screen to see one of Joe Hart or Shay Given in an Arsenal shirt can save your breath. Man City will never sell to a rival club and it is understandable too considering the millions they spent for success.
Finally, we come to the issue of the captain. Cesc has more or less made it clear where he wants to be. A lot depends now on how the players around him react to what happened over the summer. It leaves a sour taste in the dressing room to know that your captain is packing his bags for next summer and this may impact on players minds. Whether they respond positively or negatively is one that only time will tell. We do however have very few players that play for the passion of the club. Players like Denilson, Diaby, Almunia, Nasri and co do not know what a London Derbies mean to the fans and so they are vulnerable to any negative issues surrounding the club. They lack fighting spirit and passion and all await the "magic phonecall" from the Nou Camp on which of our players have new DNA discovered so Barcelona can claim a divine right to the player.
To finish off, my prediction for the coming season (assuming we don’t sign any more players and go with this current squad is as follows:
1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea
3. Arsenal
4. Manchester City
5. Liverpool
----------------------------
18. West Brom
19. Wolves
20. Blackpool
It's a pessimistic view ahead of our campaign, but as always, Keep the faith.
As glad as I am with the start of the new season, this is the most pessimistic I have been for years about the current squad at our disposal. In terms of attacking talent, there are very few teams that are blessed with talent going forward as we currently posses in our squad. The addition of Chamakh will no doubt give us depth and a varied attacking option up front.
And after a poor season in 2009/2010, Samir Nasri is looking more mature and hungry to prove himself after being left out of France’s disastrous World Cup campaign (a blessing in disguise I’d say). Andrey Arshavin could not have asked for a better fixture to kick off the season and most Arsenal fans are sweating on the fitness of van Persie even before a ball has been kicked.
Our cause for concern is our defence. Arsenal lack depth at the back and the acquisition of Koscielny is not going to be enough to compete. It is highly unlikely that Koscielny will produce the same quality as the Verminator did last season. He has played in the French second division for some time and has not spent long in Lorient – who are not the most attractive of contenders in the French league. It will take Koscielny time to adjust to the premier league and it seems the only other defender we have is Djorou.
The goalkeeping issue has been a major problem since Jens Lehmann left. Almunia and Fabianski have easily cost us enough points last season to hinder our challenge for the title and it is about time Wenger realised that neither are anywhere near good enough. He has insisted for a long time about how good Fabianski is in training. However, it means nothing to pull off world class saves when it doesn’t matter if you cannot repeat this on match days. His goalkeeping has been nothing short of abysmal in pre season and let’s not forget the poor display he put in Anfield when Andrey rescued us the unforgettable 4-4 draw. As an Arsenal fan, the summer has been most frustrating as the first issue that needed dealing with was the Goalkeeping position and on the eve of the opening game against Liverpool, most fans are unsure as to who is going to start between the posts.
Arsenal have been linked with Schwarzer and one of the Manchester City keepers. It is a sad time when fans get excited over signing Schwarzer who isn’t the greatest of keepers. He is however a lot better than Almunia and Fabianski combined.
Those of you cursing the screen to see one of Joe Hart or Shay Given in an Arsenal shirt can save your breath. Man City will never sell to a rival club and it is understandable too considering the millions they spent for success.
Finally, we come to the issue of the captain. Cesc has more or less made it clear where he wants to be. A lot depends now on how the players around him react to what happened over the summer. It leaves a sour taste in the dressing room to know that your captain is packing his bags for next summer and this may impact on players minds. Whether they respond positively or negatively is one that only time will tell. We do however have very few players that play for the passion of the club. Players like Denilson, Diaby, Almunia, Nasri and co do not know what a London Derbies mean to the fans and so they are vulnerable to any negative issues surrounding the club. They lack fighting spirit and passion and all await the "magic phonecall" from the Nou Camp on which of our players have new DNA discovered so Barcelona can claim a divine right to the player.
To finish off, my prediction for the coming season (assuming we don’t sign any more players and go with this current squad is as follows:
1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea
3. Arsenal
4. Manchester City
5. Liverpool
----------------------------
18. West Brom
19. Wolves
20. Blackpool
It's a pessimistic view ahead of our campaign, but as always, Keep the faith.
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