Open these with VLC:

Eduardo ‘8: Download (English Commentary), DailyMotion (Non-English)

Eduardo ‘50: Download (English Commentary), DailyMotion (Non-English)

Denilson ‘69: Download (English Commentary), DailyMotion (Non-English)

If you want highlights in the future, you might want to leave a comment with a valid email address. They’re cracking down on blogs.

Grab the feed.

We deserved to win this one 3-1 at the minimum, Bendtner missed the open net late after Fabregas’ shot off the post fell right to his feet. Arsenal dominated this game and Liverpool’s possessions were meaningless and rarely threatening, the goal they got was off a 50-50 freekick where our wall let us down. Almunia couldn’t do anything and we conceded early but even so this game had that 3-1 feel from the beginning with Arsenal attacking right after the Gerrard goal.

Arsenal’s performance was impressive with the only miscues being some mistimed passes by Flamini/Fabregas/Hleb but other than that we were solid. The most frustrating thing about this game was…….you guessed it…..Ade-f**in-bayor. I lost track how many times he was caught offside in the first half on threatening sequences. When he did attack Hyppia/Carragher, it was always hesitant moves that were slow in developing. The quick-thinking that Fabreags/Hleb/Rosicky have seem to be completely missing from Adebayor. His first and second touches have never been great and today he showed just that while underlining the difference between Henry and him. Or for that matter RVP and him. The quality of our midfield goes to waste when Adebayor has piss poor games like this.

Arsenal were solid on all fronts, even Gallas making a brilliant goal-saving block on Gerrard late on after we had tied but before Bendtner blew his chance. Bakari Sagna is a center-back that I want to see at Arsenal for years to come, he’s a mean muthafucka who will strike fear into the hearts of opposing strikers for years to come, what a great signing by Le Boss. Emmanuel Eboue was the only player other than Ade that had a subpar game, his crosses were off-target and he was unable to provide anything meaningful from the right side. Carragher elbowed him in the face in Liverpool’s box but the referee turned a blind eye to it, maybe the knock did him in.

A bit surprised by Wenger going with pretty much a 4-5-1 with Adebayor up-front. Liverpool’s defense was leaky at best and after their midweek loss in Europe they were ripe for the picking. I think Arsenal could’ve done more in terms of applying pressure early on and forcing Liverpool to defend. Gunners should’ve had all three but lady luck shined on the Kop. Andy Gray must’ve wet his pants.

There’s a much more level-headed take over at A Cultured Left Foot, definitely worth a read.

This game was on Canadian TV so I didn’t record highlights, however you can get them from here. Grab the feed.

Hahahahaha. Yeah, this one was a laugher. Just for kicks we should’ve subbed off Almunia for Lehmann after 6-0 just to piss him off further. Why didn’t we start subbing off everyone after 4-0 is puzzling. Remember that RVP got injured when the Dutch were up 2-0 in a meaningless game. Walcott almost ended his year of drought with a hatrick, got absolutely denied by the goalie late in the match. Read the Match Report. I also uploaded this interesting discussion about the team from the Champions League post-game show. Check it out, it talks about how Gilberto and Lehmann are in the same position but the former has chosen to STFU while the latter hasn’t.

Time to put this behind us, two huge games coming up: Liverpool at Anfield this weekend and Man Utd at home the following weekend. RVP wasn’t missed at all in this game but we’ll need Adebayor to compensate for him in the next little while. It says a lot about Ade that he couldn’t get a goal in a 7-0 rout.

Two words to sum up the evening: Perfect Football.

Make sure to grab the feed. The individual goals are below, here’s a full highlight pack (download):

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Fabregas ‘5 1-0: Download

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Hleb ‘24 2-0: Download

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Walcott ‘41 3-0: Download

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Hleb ‘51 4-0: Download

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Walcott ‘55 5-0: Download

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Fabregas ‘58 6-0: Download

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Bendtner ‘89 7-0: Download

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Arsenal’s domination of Tottenham extends beyond just the Premiership, let’s go back to Saturday and Euro 2008 qualifiers, it’s Germany vs. Ireland (highlights here) and Jens Lehmann is in goal. Robbie Keane blows two great chances to put Ireland ahead, one of them a weak attempt at a lob which goes straight to Lehmann. Keane’s striking abilities are later heavily questioned by manager Steve Staunton. Just something that brought a little sunshine to my weekend. Speaking of Jens, he vows to be back in goal against Bolton next weekend, a game that I will miss because of travel.

“I was injured, it was the first time since I am at Arsenal and I expect the boss to play me.”

Of course this comes right after he accused Almunia of not showing any respect towards him and not that long after Oliver Kahn took another swipe at him. Jens sure makes a lot of news. Even though I like his grittiness and toughness, it’s getting awfully hard to look past the friction and annoyance he’s probably causing in the squad. There’s confidence and then there’s cockiness, the latter tends to piss people off and I think Jens is exuding more and more of it. Anybody here find himself cheering for Almunia even though we all know he’s NOT the better goalie? Sounds a little sick, doesn’t it?

Thierry Henry has confirmed that he might’ve been a bit of a negative influence at Arsenal over the last couple years. Not that anyone cares at this point, to be frank I’m getting a little tired of Henry comments about Arsenal even though they’re positive ones. I mean, lest we forget, but it’s about time to move on already.

That’s all I got. Grab the feed.

There was a little too much inflated optimism going about around the club and I’m sure with a loss to European Club Real Madrid, the balloon of false positives has been popped. In the European training camp all I’ve been hearing is this:

• How great Bargnani is.
• How great our PG duo is and how we really have two starting PGs who can do no wrong.
• Garbajosa is like our Ben Wallace
• What a genius Mitchell really is for holding us together last year
• How nobody’s giving us any “respect” in the Atlantic
• And other such uplifting theories that make you actually believe that we have a great team going into the season

Now while all the above may be true to some extent, it’s time for a big fat reality check. It’s important to figure out why we lost to Real Madrid, a very average European team with a helter-skelter style of play that relies almost exclusively on outside shooting and a big man that takes more time to turn than an 18-wheeler. The core of our problems tonight were on the defensive end which is no surprise but the level to which Madrid dominated the glass during key parts of the game was disheartening. How easy it was for Louis Bullock and Lous Llull to completely break down our perimeter defense and then kick it out to Charles Smith for wide open threes was reminiscent of Jason Kidd kicking it out to Boki Nachbar.

It’s evident that Bargnani will improve his defense this year but it’s even more evident that it might not be to the level which is demanded by the current roster. With that in mind we’ve got to look at some real options of bringing a tough interior presence which can help clean the boards, now Garbajosa might have the heart of Rudy but he’s still on the smaller/leaner side and is far from anything imposing. It happens that Sam Mitchell recognizes this:

“We’ve got guys who can shoot the basketball, we have guys who can pass the ball, we have to find guys who’ll go in there and do the dirty work, play that physical role for us.”

OK, so at least there’s acknowledgment that there’s a problem which is the first step to fixing it. Get it done Bryan.

Let’s turn our attention to some players that played like they were auditioning for the D-League, namely Joey Graham. Leaving numbers aside for a moment (2-8 for 5pts in 23 minutes), Joey’s got that ‘bull in a china shop’ look. He’s not quite sure how to break down his man so he just tries to force his way past him (usually towards the dead-end of the baseline) and throw up something similar to a shot-attempt. His other offensive move is the straight-up jumper from 18 feet which has a success rate of somewhere in the low 30’s. Simply put, he’s just not good enough to help us. There isn’t one part of his game which is superior to an average NBA player which unfortunately for us makes him the worst kind of trade bait.

I’ve never liked that we’re a perimeter team, I’ve lived with it and been glad when we’ve won but something about operating from 18+ feet most of the time gives me an uneasy feeling. Maybe that’s why it’s acceptable to tolerate TJ Ford’s occasional wildness, he’s one guy on his team whose first option is to get to the rim, not Bosh and definitely not Bargnani, our two cornerstones. Tonight the outside shot wasn’t going down (Kapono 3-10FG, many wide open, Delfino 0-5FG, Calderon 2-6FG) and the rebounding was missing and we were getting outhustled so it’s somewhat surprising that we didn’t get blown out. But then again we’re an NBA team and are supposed to win these games, even without Bosh. Aside from him, there isn’t a legitimate run-stopper on this team, somebody you can give the ball to who can put an end to the 8-0 run by scoring or going to the FT line. Even Bosh for that matter will rely on the outside shot in these situations but even then he’s the best we’ve got.

Maybe I’m overreacting, after all it’s a preseason game where the primary goal is to get your run in and not win the game but even then you still want to come out of it with a good feeling. That good feeling was nowhere to be found, except maybe in TJ Ford who was dominating the game in the first quarter but was taken out for Calderon because that’s just how Sam does things, doesn’t matter who’s in form and who’s playing well, you got to make the substitution. Hopefully this trend doesn’t continue in the real season. Why is Anthony Parker unheard from for looooong stretches of the game? He took 3 shots in 27 minutes, Juan Dixon managed that in 3. If there’s anybody who’s got the green light to do something it’s him, again, this is one of those things you just hope doesn’t happen in a real game.

Grab the feed.

I had almost forgotten that William Gallas was captain until he opened his mouth to inform everyone that the reason he’s frowning in the dressing room isn’t because he hates everybody but because he’s frustrated with his injury. Hmmm, who cares? When the team is doing so well and there’s not a negative to be found in sight Gallas has to blurt out something that is completely unwarranted and completely out of the context of the team. His “miserable attitude” is the last thing that should be coming from a captain - injured or not. Does he think Toure will steal his job? If he does, he’s mistaken because Wenger’s not the type to switch captains mid-season. But do consider this, Arsenal are doing very well under Toure and say tomorrow Gallas comes back and we happen to lose a couple games, even the most casual observer might point to Gallas as perhaps being the reason. I think Gallas is just really afraid that his return might jinx the team’s success and he’ll end up taking some blame.

A story from a yesterday where Man Utd Bati boys Carlos Tevez and Patrice Evra think they have what it takes to thwart Arsenal. They’re saying they’ll beat us even though they admit we’re a better team than last year. Somebody remind these pricks who did the double over them last year. Looking forward to November 3rd more than ever. Man Utd have six 1-0 wins where they’ve been completely outplayed for a considerable portion of the game only to have been bailed out by an unlikely goal, the crossbar or some really bad refereeing. Wankers.

Old Boy Thierry Henry’s saying we’ve got a chance to do the double through the Prem and Champions League. Nice of him to say that but you know he just formed that opinion recently, otherwise why on earth would he leave the club? I’m telling you, deep down he’s regretting the decision, he’s been playing on the left wing in Barcelona (Monaco anyone?) and is finding the game quite different. While we’re on the subject of foreign players, how about the story of Kaka wanting to play in the Premiership at some point, is there a player that would look better in an Arsenal shirt than him? But Wenger’s eyes aren’t on Kaka, they’re on Robert Green.

Captain Toure has labeled Flamini as the Gattuso of Arsenal. Even though I think Gattuso is a diver and a drama queen, the comparison is justified because Flamini has been playing like a rabid pitbull this season.

Euro 2008 qualifiers means there’s no match this weekend. International football is so boring. Eduardo’s fit to play for Croatia and Cesc wants to win. Just to keep things fresh, here’s what Emirates Stadium looks like from Google Maps, they still haven’t updated the imagery from two years ago.

That’s all folks, grab the feed.

Still comfortable with Almunia in the net? He’s got to save the second goal and preserve the lead. It’s alls well that ends well I guess but we definitely saw a chink in the armour. Not a big chink but moments in the game where our passing ability deserted us and we were carelessly giving the ball away. Sunderland grew in confidence and managed to equalize because of our lackluster defending after the first two goals. Robin van Persie’s and his powerful left foot is the savior again.

How about Senderos, only he could score a goal like that. Body going one way, keeper some other way, and ball some other direction. What an ugly un-Arsenal goal, I almost wanted to give that one back but turned out we really needed it. Is it just me or does Sagna play better with the longer hair? I think it adds a little intangible toughness to the man, something that says, “Son, I’m gonna eat you after the game”. Grow that shit back man. So what’s this we’re back at the top of the table two points ahead of Man U with that ever-present game in-hand. I love the game in-hand, we always seem to have played one less than anyone else, it’s almost therapeutic.

Will RVP score 25 goals in the Premiership this year? I think so, he’s in top notch form and will score at least twice of what Adebayor will. Will Senderos ever score again in his life? Probably not. Can Diaby do anything with his left foot? Now I think he’ll be great for Arsenal for years to come but right now it’s almost painful to see him on the left side trying to desperately bring the ball over to his right so he could shoot it. It’s like he’s trying to draw a circle in the air with his right hand while moving his right foot counter-clockwise. Try it, see if you can do it? Didn’t think so.

Arsenal fan, I have some news. The Toronto Raptors season is starting soon which means another team to cover so the Arsenal posts might be shorter in length/content. Fear not though, the Toronto FC season is coming to a very slow and pathetic end so it means one less team to cover.

This was a 7AM start in Toronto so one must now sleep. BTW, Sopcast and MyP2P are being total bitches these days so I have to thank Arsenal Clips for the highlights. Grab the feed.

Check out all the goals in one video or download all the goal in one big rar file. 22.5MB. Or you could download the 89MB MOTD BBC highlights.

Here’s the Arsenal.com Match Report and something from the BBC with post-match interviews.

RVP 1-0 ‘7 Download

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Senderos 2-0 ‘14 Download

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Wallace 2-1 ‘25 Download

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Jones 2-2 ‘48 Download

RVP 3-2 Download

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I have never seen a defender smash home an own goal the way Chris Leitch did into his own net. It was a great hit but to his defense (pardon the pun) Cunningham would’ve probably slotted it home if Leitch had let it go. Kenny S finally has a win under his belt, it was getting quite embarrassing for him and the whole team really. We hadn’t won a game since July 4th, that’s exactly three months ago! How crazy is that?

Caught portions of this game on the NY telecast and I’d take those two commentators over Forrest, Dobson or Reed any day. They were actually happy for us that we actually won a game.. Add in the fans (King Tut was awesome), the intense fog and slight drizzle and it looked like an English Championship side playing for a promotion. I have nothing negative to say, not even concerning Adam Braz. But let’s give props to Maurice Edu for scoring on a shot which would’ve made Thierry Henry proud.

So what does this win mean? Nothing obviously except we that we beat a pretty decent team in a pretty convincing fashion. Does this mean we’re good? No, Mo Johnston is looking for two forwards, two midfielders and two backs in the off-season, here are the two from each position he’s going to be keeping, or should be keeping:

• Forwards: Cunningham, Dichio
• Midfielders: Edu, Robinson
• Backs: Wynne, Brennan

How does that sound? I’d say those might be our six best players who actually would make it on any MLS roster? After these six guys we quickly drop to the likes of Lombardo, Boyens, Samuel, Braz etc. who would have issues when trying to say, make the roster for DC United. The other player that’s been surprisingly good has been Todd Dunivant who deserves to come back.

There’s an article in the Toronto Star by Cathal Kelly which encourages us to sign a designated player like Angel but he options he’s giving aren’t very attractive. Still worth a read.

Anwyays, enjoy the win, they don’t come often enough.

Grab the feed.

Following the Sevilla demolition this had to be considered a bit of a letdown but even so it was a deserved victory. Fabregas amazingly missed a complete sitter early in the game and after that I was thinking that those chances might come pretty often. But Steaua was resilient and tightened their defense until it was unlocked by Adebayor’s centering pass, which after being whiffed by Fabregas, was slotted home professionally by RVP. We dominated the game for the most part and deserved a result although we were lucky when Almunia was caught way out of his line and had his hide saved by Toure’s clearing header late in the game.

As the match report points out half the seats in the stadium were empty which is shocking considering what a rarity Champions League football is here. But that didn’t stop Steaua from mounting a strong challenge forcing Arsenal into using all the grit we had. As Wenger says, Arsenal have shown maturity, last year this easily could’ve ended up 1-0 against us (as it did in Moscow):

“Steaua defended very well and we couldn’t find the openings, so we had to show patience. Patience is linked with maturity and we were conscious of that at half-time. I’m pleased because we kept going, we were intelligent and in the end scored the goal which gave us a deserved win.”

The Mail’s gone as far as calling this a “historic win” given our failings in Eastern Europe over the last decade but I just call it some really bad luck. All in all it’s a good win where we once again fought through some adversity and came out with a result. Everyone’s favorite whipping boy, Adebayor deserved to score a goal, he was a real presence in the box and had a big role in creating almost all our chances. He’s starting to have an impact on games without even scoring which says a lot about his development as a center forward.

Almunia looked a little shaky today, he had the “Deer Caught-in-Headlights” at least twice, once when Toure was forced to clear the ball and then again when Constantin Iacob wasted a chance on a 2 on 1 with Almunia being the 1. But then again when you have a clean sheet things like these get lost in the shuffle. We should all thank Robin van Persie for having the best finishing touch on the team, when a shot needs to be taken that requires both accuracy and power, he is the best we’ve got. On the defensive side of things Sagna is becoming what we thought Senderos might be, a strong physical no-nonsense presence. A great summer signing which perfectly complements the forward-thinking Eboue and the stay-at-home Toure. I think it’s fair to say that after Toure, he is our best back.

On a completely different note I was made very happy when I learned that the new Champions League intro has the Alessandro Mancini’s insane stepover against Lyon in it, check it out.

Grab the feed, highlights below.

Robin van Persie ‘76: Download

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French Highlight Pack Download 14.5 MB

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Check Arsenal Goals Clips and Arsenal Clips for more.