Arsenalist

Drogba: 1-0: Watch :: Download

Drog-fucking-ba: 2-0: Watch :: Download

Wenger Interview :: Ancelloti Interview

Arsenal.com Match Report

Twitter – @arsenalist

Somebody needs to explain this to me: Why would Bordeaux not sell Chamakh? Even if they were getting a pair of shorts and a coupon for a free move they were better off taking the deal than lose him for nothing. It’s not like the player made any secret that he’ll extend his deal with them. He was pretty clear from the start that this was his last year there. Today he’s talking about how he’s targetting Arsenal this summer and how he’s less and less a Bordeaux player with each passing day:

“My future? Well, I hold all the cards, I have no reason to be under pressure but everyday passing by, I am a little less a Bordeaux player. My choice is to join Premier League and if I could choose, I will go to Arsenal. Bordeaux has brought me so much. I will soon clearly state things so the club can prepare to find my replacement peacefully.”

A Cesc thought. In the last few years I’ve never seen him actually praise Barcelona this much. I’m sure it’s not a slight towards Arsenal, but usually Cesc is a little quiet when it comes to beating the drum of Barca and complaining about the weather.

“I’ve never hidden that one day I will return to Barcelona. ‘Since I was nine months old, my grandfather and I never stopped going to the stadium and have always worn Blaugrana colours. For one reason or another I had to leave, but you never know what can happen. Nobody has to tell me that Barcelona is the best city in the world to live and the quality of life that is there. I know perfectly. I don’t like the weather of London, but as a city it is spectacular. But when I retire I will live in Barcelona.”

A win at Chelsea and all is suddenly great again. That’s just how fast the wheels turn in football. Oh, thanks to Portsmouth for scoring three own goals against Man Utd. WTF?

Can’t wait for Sunday.

Yesterday George Graham was talking smack:

Whether Arsenal can do a Barcelona in English football… there’s a big question mark over that. I think Arsene Wenger loves the way Barca play and I think he wants Arsenal to evolve in that way. Arsene was the manager who developed that pacy and athletic game in England and I don’t know why he has changed it. It is a question I would like to ask him myself. When you have succeeded in a certain way at the top level, why change it. He had great success with the technique, athleticism, intensity and aggression. Can you play total football in England and win the league? I don’t know. But it looks as if Arsene is going to go down that route of trying to play like Barcelona.

I don’t know what he’s talking about, Wenger’s got a passing oriented style of play which is nothing close the long-ball Route One nonsense they used to play in England. If trying to pass the ball around with a purpose and playing team football is considered “Copying Barcelona” then screw it, let’s copy Barcelona. I’m not even sure Barcelona have always played that way, in fact, you could make a case that under the Wenger regime it’s us who have been at the forefront of playing “total football”, not Barcelona.

Anyway, it’s just a non-story that’s a story because there’s no other story.

Team news ahead of Chelsea:

John Terry is in. Eduardo is out. Diaby is a maybe. Cuntley in. Obi Wan Kenobi in.

My guess at our first team:

Starters: Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy, Denilson, Song, Fabregas, Rosicky, Bendtner, Arshavin

Reserve: Fabianski, Silvestre, Campbell, Nasri, Walcott, Traore, Ramsey, Eastmond.

Vermaelen is saying that Drogba and Rooney are the best strikers he’s faced.

“Nicolas Anelka and Wayne Rooney are runners but Drogba is just standing there and he gets long balls, gets it down and he plays. Then he gets in the box, but he’s not a big runner, no. I couldn’t choose between Rooney and Drogba, they are the best I’ve played.”

No offense to the Eredivisie, but there’s hardly any imposing strikers that would be better than anybody Vermaelen might face on a day-to-day basis in the Premier League. I really hope his height disadvantage against Drogba doesn’t come into play. I’m not sure how fit Sol Campbell is or whether he can run 50 feet without needing to catch his breath, but I wonder if a physical presence like him is the key to slowing down Drogba, who uses his strength to get his advantage.

Wenger says that we gave Man Utd too much space.

“The biggest regret I have from Sunday [the 3-1 defeat by Manchester United] is that we gave them too much freedom and allowed them too much to play in a game where we should have been dictating. My players wanted it so much that sometimes you can be a little bit restricted and our target is to get that freedom to play in this game [against Chelsea].”

Well Arsene, I’m guessing it was your decision to attack so hard in the opening minutes that it was only natural for us to be left vulnerable at the back. If the instruction was to be more conservative, maybe we wouldn’t have conceded on the counter on the first two goals, no?

One thing I don’t like is when Wenger says that we should perform well since there is no pressure on us, I mean, we should be performing well in the case of pressure or no pressure. I don’t think it speaks to our “mental strength” that we only perform well when nobody sees us coming and we sneak up on somebody because we’re not expected to be a threat.

“I believe we should be more relaxed at this time because at the start of the season nobody expected us in the top four or in the title race. Now, instead of being intimidated, I believe we have to really have a go because we are entitled to have it.”

Can’t wait till Sunday.

The title says it all. Against Hull. In Hull City. We’re six points back of Chelsea and four back of Man Utd. Assuming Man Utd thrashes Portsmouth this weekend and somehow, just somehow, we beat Chelsea, we’ll have three teams within three points of the top. The race would be back on. Remember, last year we beat them at Stamford Bridge so anything’s possible. Hull had some good counter-attacks going against them and if it weren’t for Boateng wearing wooden shoes, probably could’ve won the game. I figure if Chelsea play on Sunday the way they did today, we’ll be netting three points.

Last year we got a great game from Robin van Persie but this time around we’ll be relying on Nicklas Bendtner who fluctuates between being a total klutz and a heading genius. Nobody knows which Bendtner will show up but if I had to put money on it, I’d say the klutz will. This leaves us looking for other striking options and basically hoping that Eduardo returns to fitness and scores a goal with the outside of his backheel while singing the Croatian national anthem to the tune of the Brazilian one.

I like Eduardo, the guy is composed with the ball but he’s one that can be neutralized if you’re physical against him. We’ve been seeing that of late and until he scored that cracker against West Ham in the FA Cup, was in a miserable run of form. I would not play Arhsavin at striker and instead have him in the “Hleb role”, playing just behind the primary striker where he doesn’t feel the pressure to score and plays unselfish football where he’s looking to pass after his nifty turns.

After that we’re down to Carlos Vela who, as much as I like him, is simply not physically strong enough to handle the Chelsea defenders. For him to score he would have to trick about three defenders with some fancy footwork and then score a perfect goal. That or poach one off a rebound. It stands to be a tall order without RVP and sad to say that we really haven’t replaced Adebayor who was decent for us last year (minus the CL). It’s been beaten to death but the height we lack up front and at the back is fast becoming our Achilles heel.

Caution to the wind. Don’t attack too much. The first five minutes of the Man Utd game were just like the first five minutes of the CL semis last year – constant Arsenal attack. We started off with high energy, threatened to score but didn’t, were exposed in the back and once we conceded, our play flattened out because we were heartbroken. Moral of the story: pace yourself, no need to attack full guns blazing. Chelsea will give you opportunities to score if you simply probe with patience (which is Arsenal’s game, no idea why they went away from it against Man Utd).

So, today was small reason to celebrate.

Despite convincing victories over the likes of Blackburn and Bolton most Arsenal fans know that the true test of their side’s title credentials is when they come up against one of their rivals for the Premier League crown. That feeling was not lost on Arsene Wenger who talked up last Sunday’s clash with Manchester United as much as he did when Chelsea visited last November.

Unfortunately for the Gunners they came up woefully short on both occasions. Back in November Chelsea romped to a 3-0 victory at the Emirates and looked like champions-elect. On Sunday a United side, supposedly weakened by the loss of Ronaldo and injuries to Vidic and Ferdinand, were similarly dominant, to the extent where it looked like men against boys at times.

Credit to Arsenal they recovered from that Chelsea setback to re-assert themselves in the title race and they could have overtaken United with a win on Sunday. In fact ever since Arsenal briefly reached the summit with a win at Bolton last week there has been a feeling among the fans that this could be their year.

But all too predictably the wheels came off the Gunners title charge once again. In a performance similar to the one seen in last year’s Champions League semi-final United ripped through the Arsenal defence to finish the game off with just minutes of the second half played. This left Arsene Wenger and the fans to question whether they have enough quality to match the country’s best.

It would be easy to blame individuals, Almunia put the ball into his own net, Clichy looked vulnerable against Nani and Arshavin was isolated up front, but it seems that the side lacks a match winner to force the issue in the biggest games. Dare I say a Thierry Henry type figure?

United certainly have a match winner in Wayne Rooney, who again demonstrated why he cannot get injured if England are to have any chance of winning the World Cup next summer.

Wenger can only look on ruefully at such talent but with a reported £30 million in the bank, the time has now surely come for Wenger to splash the cash and buy a proven match winner. If not then results like Sunday’s could become an all too regular occurrence.

The football betting suggests that Arsenal will now have to settle for a place in the Premier League top four and the club faces another season without a trophy unless they can do something special in the Champions League.

Fuck man, Wenger! When are you going to realize Almunia is a sub-par goalie that wouldn’t cut it at Birmingham? When will you realize it’s unfair as hell to play Arshavin at striker against proven Premier League defenders? I don’t care how good the little owl is, he’s still TOO FUCKING SHORT to win headers, get on the end of crosses and control 50-50 balls like every other big league striker does. We need help and by help I don’t mean Nicklas Bendtner coming off and bumbling his way in the 12-yard box like he’s playing a game of hopscotch. Or are you thinking that RVP’s return in mid-March will be just like buying a new striker, because it doesn’t work that way.

I keep hearing that you got 30 million pounds to spend but you’re waiting for the “right player”. Fuck waiting for the right player, sign Chamakh, sign whoever the fuck, sign Michael fucking Owen for all I care, but sign somebody! We can’t be going into these big games with Arshavin hung out to dry, no? As for the midfield, we got some nice little options there but Denilson is not the holding midfielder Gilberto was and its about time we see it, yes, he scores a nice goal once in a while but he gives up far too much and just isn’t physically strong enough.

This team is probably good enough for a Top 4 finish, and that’s what we’re used to now but that isn’t what we want. I hate being in a race with clubs like Man City, Aston Villa, and goddamn Tottenham, I thought this year would be different but alas, it’s the same shit again. I don’t want to hear the “we’re mature”, “we’ve grown up”, “we have mental toughness” bullshit in a post-match interview after beating shit like Hull City, because those games should be routine and not even discussed later on. It’s games against Manchester United that you’re measured against and we’ve come up short – physically, mentally and talent-wise.

I love the faith in youth, I really do, but there has to be a better mix on the team, a mix that’ll allow our youth to come along and proven veterans to carry the torch in the major competitions. We need to be competing at all levels including the Carling Cup and FA Cup, and there should be no reason to send out a weakened side to any of those given our trophy drought. I can see if Chelsea or Man Utd send out a team of 16-year olds but not Arsenal, we haven’t won enough in the last half-decade to do that. Trophies are precious and its time you start treating them as such. Maybe that’ll even build some confidence in this mentally fractured unit that they can win something bigger and significant, like the league or Europe.

We’re down to two competitions – League and Champions League.

Them 1-0: Watch

Denilson 1-1: Watch :: Download

Shit 2-1: Watch :: Download

Aaah..fuck it: 3-1: Watch :: Download

Wenger Interview :: Pulis Interview

Match Report

Twitter – @arsenalist

MOTD Highlights – you need Veoh player If you don’t want to download veoh, watch this highlight pack.

Goals and other stuff

Cahill 1-0: Watch :: Download

Ughhh 2-0: Watch :: Download

Rosicky 2-1: Watch :: Download

Fabregas 2-2: Watch :: Download

Gallas Foul: Watch :: Download

Vermaelen 3-2: Watch :: Download

Arshavin 4-2: Watch :: Download

Short Highlight Pack

Arsenal.com Match Report

BBC Wenger Interview :: BBC Coyle Interview

Sky Wenger Interview :: Sky Coyle Interview

Twitter – @arsenalist

It may have been a free transfer but Sol Campbell’s return has raised more than a few eyebrows.

Ok I haven’t seen him in training where he has apparently done enough in the past few months to impress Arsene Wenger, but I saw him struggle through Notts County’s match with Morecambe last autumn and he looked nothing like a Premier League player.

Even in his last few months at Pompey I felt he had lost that extra yard of pace and, although his reading of the game is still top notch, if his legs are gone he will struggle.

So coming back to the Gunners, even as cover, is a huge risk. He will not be a first-teamer but if Vermaelen or Gallas picked up an injury in a crucial game, say against a United or Chelsea, is Campbell still good enough to cope with some of the best strikers in the country?

There has been relatively little disquiet among the fans over the move, mainly because they trust Arsene Wenger to get it right. The Frenchmen has rarely got things wrong in his time at the Gunners, so anyone questioning his decision making does so at their peril.

So if Campbell has proved his fitness then an experienced head could be just what Arsenal need as they make a push for their first Premier League title since 2004.

Beyond the first choice paring of Gallas and Vermaelen we have Silvestre, another veteran, and Philippe Senderos who, after a few years of stagnation, has seen his career splutter to a halt. Everton were linked to the Swiss player, though he now looks set to move to Celtic.

Wenger probably saw Campbell as the least risky option when it came to signing extra cover at the back – quality players are hard to come by in the January transfer window.

The move it is still something of a football gamble though. For it to come off I think Campnell should only play in a handful of games as this would give the first choice defenders a valuable rest in the hectic run in.

However, if an injury crisis hits the Arsenal defence and Campbell is expected to play in a long run of games his aging limbs could lead to costly defensive mistakes at the most crucial stage of the season, putting a massive dent in the team’s Premier League odds.