Dressing Room Bustups, Players To Be Dropped and a Happy Halloween to you!

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What a night at The Emirates

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Tuesday Roundup

Good Morning Everyone,

There’s not a lot going on this morning in terms of Arsenal news so it’s going to be a quickie. We’ll start off first and foremost with former Arsenal captain and legend Patrick Vieira singing it up for Arsenal.

Following Le Boss’ comments that he made a few days earlier about the lack of support that the fans have been showing to the team, Le ex captain Vieira says the Arsenal faithful do a pretty good job as it is and then demonstrated by singing his own chant for the camera. Vieira also had the following to say about the supporters:

"What I love about the English fans is that they always remember what you give to the club, I'm sure if after 15, 20 years, I go back to Arsenal, they will remember the nine years I spent there, so that's why Arsenal will always be a special club for me.”

"When you have 50,000 people singing ‘Vieira, woa-oh-oh-oh, he comes from Senegal, he plays for Arsenal’... it's fantastic!”

The man is undoubtedly one of the finest players ever to grace an Arsenal shirt and he would without a shadow of a doubt be given the best receptions whenever he returns to the club. However, I do feel that the supporters have been a little too quiet and we need to make The Emirates the noisiest place on earth, the atmosphere can become quite daunting at times and we need to do our utmost to make it as uncomfortable for visiting teams as possible.

In other news, Abou Diaby is glad to be finally back from injury and we’re glad as well, we definitely needed some depth. He claims that the times spent on the sidelines were harsh but they’re what made him stronger and had this to say:

“It was hard but I regard it as part of my evolution if you like.I stayed positive and kept doing things right, like eating the right food and living the right way. Hopefully the problems are now behind me.”

Lets hope his injury woes are well and truly behind him and he can go on to being the true successor to PV that he was initially tipped out to be. Fingers crossed.

Finally, another Arsenal legend, our favourite Freddie Ljungberg has signed for the MLS outfit Seattle Sounders and will be unveiled tommorow. I wish him the very best.

Right then, that’s the lot.

Tas van Danya.

Yippe .. Ki .. Ay

We started the game rather brightly but despite some fine spells of possession, it was Manuel Almunia who was being worked the hardest of the two keepers on the field last night. On the 20th minute mark, a counter attack saw Theo strike the cross bar when he could have passed the ball onto Bendtner at the far post for us to very easily have taken the lead. We were a bit sloppy and that essential ball was lost through misplaced first touches by van Persie, Song and Bendtner.

On the 23rd minute mark, Robert Green very clearly handled the ball outside his area, to prevent Bendtner collecting a long ball, had the assistant referee (who was about 84) have been in the position he ought to have been, then Green would have been sent off. Arsenal went on the back burner and this saw some good play by WHU, they launched an exhilarating counter attack after Eboue lost possession and the pass forward found Bellamy in on goal being chased by Clichy. Bellamy’s shot was all but goal bound until a stunning save by Almunia’s trailing foot sent the ball over the bar for a corner.

At the restart, things did not change much, the hammers picked up where they left off and began applying pressure. A corner rebounded off the chest of Matt Upson from 2 yards out and Almunia saved easily.

On the 54th minute mark, we saw another fine run from Theo from right hand side. He slid a ball across the box into the far post which was blocked over the bar by the defenders. A large chunk of West Ham’s second half pressure appeared to come primarily at the courtesy of Eboue’s natural errors; luckily they were unable to make the most of the opportunities.

At the 67th minute mark, Diaby and Adebayor came on for Nasri and Walcott and Arsenal suddenly began to find their groove and the instant change of gears was very obvious. RVP suddenly became alive and unleashed a fierce shot from the left hand side of the box which was parried by Green and Bendtner was unable to convert the rebound. A couple of minutes later, RVP almost scored as following a silly free kick conceded by Scott Parker on Fabregas in a nice position from 25 yards on the right side. RVP’s shot cannoned off the far post with Green absolutely beaten.

The dreadlock was finally beaten as Adebayor, demonstrating some fine close control and cut inside three defenders from the right and unleashing a shot that forced an own goal from Julien Faubert. 1-0 To The Arsenal.

Song made some nice inquisitive runs and RVP was a regular threat down the right flank. In the first minute of extra time after a scurried clearance from our 18 yard box, saw Bendner, who was 15 yards inside his own half down on the left, launched a transcendent ball some 35 yards over the hammer’s defence and right into the feet of Adebayor, who rounded past the on rushing Green and struck the ball calmly into the back of the empty net. 2-0 and game over.

Afterwards Arsene, whilst speaking about the game had the following to say:

'It was a big win for us today, to come out of it with a frustrating 0-0 would have felt like a wasted ­opportunity to get closer to the top. We knew before the game we could not drop points. West Ham can also feel ­frustrated because they defended well.'

Arsene Wenger further revealed that he had taken a conscious decision to give Adebayor, a rest by saying:

'Last year I over-used him and now we go into a period where we play every three days, which is why I want to rotate a little bit.'

Which is true actually, we’re playing a lot of game up till December and it is of utmost importance that the squad is rotated as much as possible and the other players be given a chance to prove themselves. I however cannot wait to see Carlos Vela find his groove as he is one helluva prospect.

And finally, Juventus have been linked with making a £6million bid for, wait for it, wait a little more, just a wee bit more, Emmanuel Eboue, ladies & gentlemen. According to this article which you can read here, it claims that Juventus were keen on Eboue during the summer transfer window, and it has been reported that they remain interested and will make an offer in the New Year.

Is there a possibility that we pay them the said amount and throw in a Bentley for their brilliant manager so as to ensure that this deal absolutely goes through?

Right then, that’s the lot.

Until next time, ladies & gentlemen, this is your host, Gonner14, signing out.

Tas van Danya.

I'm back.

Hello Everyone,

I'm sorry for not being able to post regularly but I've had my hands full as of late. In any case, it has now become apparent that almost everyone is now writing us off as usual. We definitely have lost our way after putting in some great performances but its definitely not the end of the world. A lot of work needs to be put in by Le Boss and now that we have a break.

Arsene definitely needs to go back to the drawing board and instead of drawing up Wile E. Coyotesque plans, be direct like the Road Runner and kick ass. I probably didn't make too much sense there but the fact of the matter is that this is definitely a make or break season. I'm not worried though as there's still a long way to go and other teams will also drop points and Hull will very soon be back to where they belong but now that our backs are somewhat against the wall, we must bounce back in style and i'm fairly confident we will.

I don't want to indulge on the gloom and doom wagon that everyone else is so mad keen on getting the front seat on so in order to make you guys feel better, I've dug up another quality goal from the Arsenal archives and I'm sure you lot would love to see it, so here it is:

Right then,

Until next time,

Godspeed.

There's nothing to "blog" about today!

Hello Everyone,

There's very little to talk about today as all one can find is the smoke blowing over from the match against Porto. I could go about it all over again but as I've already covered that in yesterday's blog I can't be arsed about re-rounding up the same stories again.

So instead, I'm putting up this video of a Freddie Ljungberg fan which is simply put, uproarious. Enjoy!



Until next time,

Godspeed.

Back In Black

Arsene Wenger had demanded an ardent response from his team following the shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Hull, and they delivered in irresistible fashion. Whatever was said on the training ground prior to the match by Le Boss appeared to work as Arsenal, particularly in the second half, ran riot whilst Porto crumbled.

We started the game brightly, spare a few nervy moments where Porto seemed to be getting the better of us and were actually playing some very good football despite all our dominance and possession. We gradually settled in to the game and therefore it was only a matter of time before we grabbed our first of the night in the 30th minute courtesy of Robin van Persie. Ade & RVP combined proficiently down the right of the field, creating space for Ade who with the greatest of calm looked up and delayed his pass to RVP, who fired the ball home. It was a lovely goal to open our account and settle any jitters that we had.

After that it was all Arsenal, the champagne began flowing more swiftly and we grabbed the game with both hands. We began to ask even more questions of Porto’s defense and one of the moves resulted in a corner. RVP fired the ball in to penalty area which after finding Ade’s head bounced rather awkwardly and sailed over the heads of Helton and Benitez and landed in the back of the net. It was 2-0 to the Arsenal.

Soon after play resumed, we were back to our usual antics but with much more fluidity and much more composure. 3 minutes into the second half and we added a third. This time a rather brilliant move sparked by Theo Walcott found its way to RVP, who showed strength to fend off Bruno Alves and stab it home.

The fourth goal was scored off the penalty spot by Adebayor after Bendtner was brought down rather gauchely by Guarin who made a stupid tackle when there was absolutely no need for one. In any case it was now 4-0 to the Arsenal. It was a night which had a bit of everything, an outstanding team performance. Everyone seemed to have the touch of magic. We scored four lovely goals and missed another four sitters. We saw Eboue doing some brilliant step overs which would have put the best to shame before trodding on the ball to put an end to that exuberance of talent. We saw how good Carlos Vela is and just how much potential that lad holds. In short it was a complete performance; the boss also seemed to agree by saying:

"It's difficult to measure our best performance of the season but this was maybe our most complete performance."

You can’t argue with that can you? The boss also hailed the king of Arsenal, Cesc Fabregas by saying:

“He was outstanding tonight. He was good offensively and good defensively and overall it was the complete midfield performance.”

It’s taken a while for him but knowing the quality of Cesc, it was only a matter of time. I actually know some jackasses who actually had the nerve of writing him off and declaring him as crap. I’m serious fed up of such fans, why don’t you go support Chelsea or something? You’d get along great, they too have no class like you lot.

Moving on, Manuel Almunia also hailed last night performance and states the claim that the win displayed our true colors by saying:

“It was crucial to have a clean sheet, have a victory like this and play fantastically like we did. think Arsène was furious before the Porto game and we said to ourselves that we had to play the Porto game as Arsenal know they can. We had to show we were a very great team.”

He makes a valid point of Arsene being pissed off. He very rarely criticises the team in the media but after the Hull game he was absolutely seething. As I said in yesterday’s blog, the players need to be given a kick up their arses and dropped from time to time to show that they aren’t indispensable to the Arsenal.

Moving on, Adebayor believes that the understanding that is developing between him and Robin can fire us to glory on all fronts by saying:

“Robin and I are working hard for the team. We are here to help this team win something so I am pleased with the way he played last night. I give him a pass, he gives me a pass so this means there is a good relationship between him and me.”

They have so far netted 11 goals in 9 games that they have played together and that is a good figure. What worries me is the erratic nature of their performances. They net 4 goals in one game combined and then fail to score for 3,4 games in a row. There is no doubting in their quality but the levels of consistency need to built up and maintained. If they are able to do so, I have no doubts that they will indeed fire us to quite a few trophies down the years.

To wrap it up, this win has undoubtedly restored the confidence in the team and it is crucial as the month ahead holds some very crucial games and we absolutely cannot afford any more slip ups like the one we had at Fulham and more recently at home to Hull.

And finally I’d like to wish the readers an Eid Mubarik.

Right then,

Until next time folks.

Come on you Gunnnnneeerrrrssssssssss!!!