Blackburn, Transfers and Goalkeepers

I have missed my match review completely, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet as I want to embark on other subjects as we all know the transfer windows was firmly shut at 18:00 UK time yesterday. The Blackburn game on Saturday was a very tough away fixture especially when we play any of Fat Sam’s teams we always seem to struggle and loose vital points. The lads did me proud in every way, yes we seemed very nervous in the first half, we knew what happened there last season so perhaps we were too cautious to begin with.

Blackburn did put the pressure on with their towel throw-ins and keeper directed corners but we defended well and to me Almunia had a very decent game, let’s hope he can use it to boost his confidence even further. In the 20^thminute Arshavin found Van Persie in the middle who with a lovely through ball fed running Theo on the right wing who slotted the ball past Robinson into the far post. Few minutes later Koscielny got caught cold, Diouf took advantage of our new CB and muscled him out the way brought the ball to the by-line and with a nice pass found his team mate Mame Diouf who slotted into an empty net. He will need to make sure this doesn’t happen again, it was a rather cheap goal to give away. Another blow came few minutes later as Robin Van Persie got injured yet again, received his first treatment but with his second there was no way back for him into this game, he was replaced with Chamakh.

It looked apparent that Arsene had a good team talk at half time as Arsenal came back to life and searched for the winning goal. It certainly didn’t take too long, in the 6^thminute Bacary Sanga galloped down the right flank crossed the ball into the box. The ball found Fabreags who fired a shot straight at Theo in the six yard box, luckily Arshavin got on a rebound picked his spot and buried the ball through a rather congested area. The rest is history now, there were some nervy moments towards the end but we stood our ground and made sure three points were secure in the bag. It was good revenge for what we suffered there last season and a well deserved win.

With the transfer window now shut there is a great deal of negativity amongst us Gooners at least in the blog sphere, most blogs have expressed disappointment that Le Boss did not stregthen the squad with a world class goalkeeper and a cover for Alex Song in the DM position. To me this comes as no suprise, we have now four goalkeepers on the books, bringing one in would mean letting someone go. Perhaps all the hype about Schwarzer was just a mind game to give Almunia a kick in the bollocks and show him he needs to fight for that number one place, everyone is scared at the thought of Fabianski in goal but this guy is still very young for a keeper and will learn going forward. This brings me to a point raised by many that none of our keepers have had the support they really deserved and felt like the fans are behind them all the way, we have what we have and we need to get behind them I say.

In my eyes Schwarzer is no better than Almunia, we all saw his blunder at the Emirates against Fulham last season, also I do however remember the game against Barca at home and if it wasn’t for Almunia we would have nothing to play for in the second leg. Either way I will sing his name, cheer him on and get behind him all the way, the same goes for Fabianski, perhaps that will give them the confidence they need.

COME ON YOU REDS….

The future is bright, the future is Orange

I wasn’t going to post anything until after the game against Blackpool on Saturday at The Emirates as I’ve been trying to revive my blog from a virus damage but it seems I have lost most of my posts so I’m starting let’s say from scratch.

I just got back from a long break and haven’t really followed all the transfer gossip, however I still believe we are at least two players short. We all know where we need to strengthen so I’m not going to repeat myself as this has been the main subject of all Arsenal blogs for the past two months at least. With the transfer window soon closing we haven’t got a lot of time to buy those additional players, yet I hope Arsene will pull them out from somewhere. I’m not expecting miracles here but at least good enough backs up just in case as injuries are still very much popular amongst our players. I don’t know what it is but I sense a injury curse hanging over our club.

Sammy is out for a month after a minor surgery to his knee , Frimpong has damaged his cruciate knee ligaments in training and will be out for up to nine months (whole season I expect), I can still add Super Nick to the list as Denilson, Djourou, Song , Van Persie and Cesc should all be available as per Wenger’s pre-match interview:

“All are available – at different levels [of fitness],”

“I need to make up my mind who I integrate in the squad. But there is no major problem for anybody really.

“Denilson has not played since 14th April and not played one minute of a game [in pre-season]. He still needs to work. All the others are quite available, at least to be on the bench.

“But at the same time we do not want to rush it. To have a good season you need a good preparation so we want to especially build up Cesc and Van Persie well.

“They came back on 5th August and you need three to four weeks’ preparation if you want to do well in the Premier League.”

We are officially being linked with a Sevilla’s Sébastien Squillaci, watching today’s pre-match interview Arsene was asked where are we with this transfer. He just said that nothing is 100% and it’s way too early to confirm that he will join us. I’m a little concerned here because we have just let Gallas and Sol Campbell go and suddenly we are bidding for a veteran with no Premier League experience. It may sound a little harsh, however this is a complete and utter nonsense, don’t get me wrong I’m not judging Squillaci here, I just think we should go for a player who has at least 5 years left in him and to me Michael Ciani looks already like a better option, for now let’s wait and see.

The future still does look bright let’s not forget this is not a sprint it’s a marathon and whatever we do make sure we get behind our lads all the way, there is a job that needs to be done and shooting down Orange it will be come Saturday afternoon. Blackpool will definitely be up for it and will be on a high after spanking Wigan last weekend so 100% effort and commitment is required from us to show them we mean business. We don’t want any of that Hull City home game repeat do we now?  

Till next time

ATG Rant: If You Hate Barca, Stand Up…

Afternoon fellow Gooners,

The title really says it all doesn’t it? I have really come to HATE the famous Tap Up Barcelona FC, as it happened previously with Viera we all started to think the same way about Real Madrid. This time is no different but we move onto another club from another Spanish city. I have always valued Barca as a club but I feel disappointed with the way they go about their business off the pitch!

Perhaps we should make it into a song during The Emirates Cup? Can you imagine 60.000 people singing it? I can only imagine one individual not liking any of it but I doubt he will be there to witness it, if he stays that is as he will be recovering from the World Cup.

Anyway let’s move on closer to what has been happening around our Almighty Arsenal. We have finally heard what we wanted to hear for all these weeks with the Cesc saga taking twists and turns day in day out. Arsenal have confirmed a formal bid from Tap Up Barcelona and with a smile on my face we threw it back in their dirty faces, for some time we stood up and didn’t allow them to bully us:

“Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is under contract with the Club until the summer of 2015. He is a highly-valued member of the team and part of our future plans.

“We have followed recent speculation linking Cesc with a move away from the Club but as there has never been any official approach for him, only two informal exchanges, in which we made it abundantly clear that we have no interest in transferring Cesc, we have refrained from publicly passing comment. However, yesterday evening we received an offer from Barcelona for Cesc and in response, we immediately and resolutely told them once again that we have no intention of selling our captain.

“To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”

Now if they have any decency, respect and class left they will read between those lines above and get the gist of things. You would think they would act accordingly, however I get the feeling this is far from over and it didn’t really last long as they are already preparing a second bid for our skipper, I don’t get which part of ” To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion” they don’t fucking understand?

Their dirty tactics continue to go unpunished their vice-president Rafael Yuste said:

“I’m optimistic that he’ll be able to sign for Barça as soon as possible and it’s clear that everybody here will give him a warm welcome,”

“We’ll do nothing that might make it more difficult for him to come here and we won’t rush things. But we won’t stop, either.”

I think the only to way stop this bullshit getting out of hand and spreading further we should lodge a formal complaint to FIFA that they are constantly trying to Tap Up a player who is under contract with us, Come on we are The Arsenal and we fear no one on and off the pitch.

Rant over, bloody Scumbags! Ok I’m fine now… Piles of shit…

Moving on swiftly everyone is probably now aware of Walcott not going to the upcoming World Cup in South Africa with the England squad which to me was no suprise. I have a mixed feeling about this  one side of me thinks he was over used last year and now they have ditched him the other is saying he didn’t step forward this season so it’s fairy deserved. I think Goonerholic has covered this inside out with his as per usual very good article.

I will leave you with the latest Joe Cole news as this seems to be the topic of the week, Joe Cole is a very good player and I do rate him but would he really choose Arsenal over other clubs and would we be prepared to pay him those high wages he demands? Something tells me NOT, but we have heard those stories before haven’t we now?

Up the Arsenal, until the next time, enjoy the weather.

Koscielny linked, Hill Wood bust up drives Cesc away?

Good Morning fellow Gooners,

There is not a great deal of news this morning to really get excited about, which in a way is a good thing I suppose as the Cesc saga is still lingering in the blog sphere and certain individuals are adding more fuel to the ongoing Fabregas fire pit.

A certain individual who is aiming to be voted the new Barcelona President called Marc Ingla has been at it already even though this silly man is not yet in charge and thinks Cesc will definitely be a swooped to join his boyhood club.

Ingla said:

“Cesc will be a Barcelona player, yes, yes.

“The money is not as important as his dream because he wants to return to Barcelona and it’s a dream for our fans.

“Arsenal are a model club and to maintain good relations we will try to agree a good price. Of course Barcelona wants to complete a quick deal.

“I believe that Cesc’s time at Arsenal has finished, they have benefited from him and now we hope to reach agreement.”

Now who the fuck this guy thinks he is? This complete Muppet of a man is not even in charge yet and yet he reckons this is a done deal, can someone please tell this low life player tapping up CUNT to shut the fuck up, this sort of talk makes me churn my guts and just goes to show that these Catalans have got no class and respect for anyone, I hope we won’t sell even for £80 million just to show them who is charge here!

Apparently Cesc wish to leave was triggered by Peter Hill Wood’s comment about  a month ago when he said:

“If you want my opinion, I’m not sure he would even get in their team. Do they need him? I’m not sure that they do.”

To me this is just complete and utter bollocks. I don’t think Cesc is so touchy that every single comment directed at him would cause him so much grief. Yet again the media are trying to put a wedge between the club and the fans. On the other hand Peter Hill Wood shouldn’t in any way talk about his own players in this manner, makes me wonder sometimes if this bloke has got any brains when speaking to the media, I have some advice for you Peter, next time just shut up and don’t say anything.

We are obviously going to hear more stories on Cesc as we get closer to the World Cup, however I believe it will go even further than this so get ready for more shit stirring from those dirty Catalans and Spanish media. Hold your breath and let’s wait and see what happens.

On a brighter subject we have been linked with Lorient Center Back, Laurent Koscielny, it appears according to L’Equipe that our £4 million offer was rejected and we’ve been told it’s either £8 million or there will be no deal. I have not seen much of Koscielny so I can’t really comment if he is worth that much, so I will leave this one for you to discuss, make of it what you can.

Have a good weekend Gooners!

Cesc Fabregas: It’s all up to Arsene Wenger

It’s funny how things turn out, one month we’re all happy with Cesc committing to the club then summer kicks in and he wants to have his future sorted out before the Word Cup!!??!! Now with all the silence from the skipper, he has finally spoken!

Now obviously we don’t know what has been said between him and Le Boss we definitely know that it was something about him leaving Arsenal as I would speculate what else would it be? Perhaps Wenger will join him there next season? Only kidding but then again who knows anything these days?

Why would you have one of the longest and greatest conversation with your manager if you are not going anywhere? Surely you will have plenty of time to do that during the coming season right? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but Cesc probably did say I want to go back home, how can we do this and Wenger replied leave it to me.

Yes the Spanish media including all Barca players have put extra pressure on Cesc and are only making excuses for him just to undermine what great player he is and how perfectly he would fit in the squad. Saying that we can’t blame all of it on them as it would have taken one interview for Cesc to say:

“I’m under contract with Arsenal so that makes me an Arsenal player as far as I’m concerned until then my future is with Arsenal”

End of…that would put a lot minds to rest don’t you think?

Even if he stays at Arsenal do you honestly think we will drop to our knees and praise him for staying? I think he has already burnt some bridges with all this shit stirring and not having enough balls to be honest with his fans. Silence is worst than being honest and I’m sure some of us have been there and know what it’s like.

We were just linked to Mertesacker from Werder Bremen and their coach as soon this hit the papers came and said: He’s not going anywhere, I’m just astonished why our club is behaving like a wimp in this when we hold all the aces and we decide what is going to happen. Something tells me this battle is lost already as to the financial situation, well no one is going to stand up to Barca and say hold on can you afford him? They will get their money from somewhere and as soon as this deal gets done once again we will be branded a feeding club yet again.

I’m sorry but if at 23 years of age you are the highest earning player in the club, you’re the captain and this ’sinking ship club’ took you on from a very young age, gave you everything and made you for who you are now. You go through the seasons denying every single media hunt, you would think there is loyalty in the lad, something tells me he’s either shitting it and has no balls now or someone has got a lot of influence on him. I have always thought that person was Arsene, however I believe I’m very much mistaken now.

God knows I do not want him to leave but all this silly games make me feel he is definitely on his way…

Until next time my fellow Gooners!

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