Farewell Francesc Fabregas!

It might sound odd, but a lot of Arsenal fans are probably glad to see the back of Cesc Fabregas.

The transfer story surrounding him seems to have rumbled on for all eternity and some might even argue it has hampered Arsenal’s progress. That’s not to say that Fabregas has not given his all for the club when playing – but with a dream move to Barcelona in the back of his mind, you’d have to say his heart cannot have been fully in it. There is no doubt that Fabregas is a genuinely world class player, and he’d have to be, going to Barcelona. But unlike some players he is not totally irreplaceable.

However, with he and Nasri both unlikely to pull on a Gunners shirt again, the side will be significantly weakened going into the new season. What it does now mean, is Jack Wilshere has to step up to the plate, and prove that he can be a worthy replacement for either of those players. His talent is there for all to see, and for many fans, it is made all the better by the fact that he is English. Wilshere performed well last season, and he definitely is capable of stepping his game up to the next level in the new campaign. Theo Walcott has suffered with injuries in recent seasons, which seems to have halted his progress just slightly. If he can get a regular run of fitness, and prove to Arsene Wenger that he is still improving, that will be another benefit to the club.

The addition of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is intriguing. Bringing in young players from the lower leagues is a gamble. Spurs have demonstrated with Gareth Bale that it can be a very shrewd investment, but Liverpool showed in the 1990’s when the signed Mark Kennedy from Millwall, that sometimes it doesn’t work out.

Sunderland snapped up Connor Wickham from Ipswich earlier in the summer, and like Arsenal will be hoping that their bright young hope can make it as a top Premier League player. Both players are more than capable.

It will be interesting to watch the men in Arsenal Premier League Shirts this year, but many fans will now begin asking whether they can compete in a title race, and indeed if they can retain their “Champions League” status.

Why Arsenal can take heart from Barca defeat

Barcelona are the best team in the world. We know this because we are told often enough by those in the know.

Some go one further. For me, they are the best team ever Graeme Souness cooed in the post-match fall-out following Arsenals 3-1 defeat at the hands of Barcelona on Tuesday.

Before anything else, something needs to be addressed. Barcelona deserve their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and out-played Arsenal during the second leg.

The first game was one of contrast  the team from Catalonians gentle caress opposition with Arsenal’s bloodied self-belief, this game sadly offered no such juxtaposition to raise the intrigue and heart rates, at least from an Arsenal point of view.

If styles make boxing fights then this one was set up as a classic that never materialised. Endless column inches dedicated to Robin Van Persie’s ludicrous sending off detract from the real issues that emerged from the game Arsenal simply never got going.

That was less down to their own limitations than the success of the Barcelona formula. Dani Alves and Adriano Correia spent more time in Arsenal’s half than any full backs have the right to, meaning both Samir Nasri and Tomas Rosicky were bound by their defensive responsibilities more than their attacking intents. Without the threat of a counterattack, both were given licence to roam as they wished.

Alves has had the 4th most touches in the opposition half so far in La Liga this season, making a mockery of his positions title.

And devoid of Theo Walcott, and with the shadow of Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie on the pitch as they continued to struggle with injury, Arsenal were shorn of the weapon that would have been so valuable against a team that applies constant pressure. It worked well in the first leg, so why not at the Nou Camp?

Messi, Iniesta and Xavi offered little else other than expected from a team who create angles and movement like no others are able to. It was hypnotising at times as Wenger’s men spirit slowly then more quickly as Van Persie departed – evaporated into the night sky. Betting forum threads wove a pattern as pretty as the home sides passing, alight with praise for a team looking likely to put as many as they wished past another that lives in their shadow.

Despite this, Arsenal still could have won the tie. If Nicklas Bendtner’s first touch from a Jack Wilshere pass had been better, then the mood which engulfs the club currently would have had an all-together different tone. How were Arsenal, who by rights should have been out of contention with ten men against eleven who delight in beautiful torture, allowed to get within a couple of inches of knocking Barcelona out of a competition they covet so much?

The Barcelona model is flawed, and they know it. There 28 chances across both legs resulted in four goals, one of which was a penalty. Even if there Plan A is the most mesmeric strategy in world football, it is just that, a plan A, and it comes without backup. Arsenal were direct at home and racked up two goals in succession, while in Spain their first real foray into opposition territory resulted in an own goal. For once it is Barca who should take note.

Little over 18 months ago, the Catalan club did something strange. They signed a big man up top. A talented big man of course, but a target man for, whisper it quietly, the long ball. The Zlatan Ibrahimovic experiment failed eventually; the Swede was farmed out to AC Milan on loan as Barca proved to be unable to deviate from the groove that has been bored into their psyche, but his signature alone shows their vulnerability.

It is a type of snobbery particular to football that means a club willing to score from a different method  in cricket, for example, Ali Cook is praised as one of England’s finest batsman for his dogged style which emphasises application over ability, while Paul Collingwood is revered for making the most of his talent, but not in football. There is only one way to skin a cat, apparently.

Arsenal now face a defining point in their season. For better or worse, they now play Manchester united at Old Trafford in another different competition with the knowledge of their trophy-less run blurring the lines between a game they must win and why they must win it. Bonus betting may adjudge the Arsenal spirit too broken after two demoralising defeats to set themselves up for another fall again, but this side is made of something more solid than years gone by. Wenger hailed his side as maturing earlier in the season, now we will see if his assertion holds up to the closest of inspections.

But take heart, Arsenal, you were inches away from doing what only a handful of teams have done before. Barcelona are not invincible, and Arsene Wenger knows it.

Bracelona preview – Do we sacrifice or plan ahead

It has been an odd couple of weeks for Arsenal. In the space of 14 days Arsene Wenger’s men have lurched from quadruple hopefuls to staring down the barrel of another 6 years without a trophy; from favourites to overturn Manchester United in the title race to no hopers and back again. But there has always been one constant lurking on the horizon, and now it is upon them.

The Champions League 2nd leg tie against Barcelona has permeated every thought of Wenger since that dramatic night 23 days ago, make no mistakes about that. Ask any Arsenal fan if they would prefer to have beaten Birmingham or Barcelona and the answers will no doubt have put the Gunners through to the next round of the Champions League despite that trophy-less run hanging heavy on their minds.

The Catalan club are of a similar mind-set as well. Because this is more than a match to decide the better team on the night, it is a battle to decide the finest purveyors of a type of football most others can only admire from afar – and Wenger more than Guardiola is eager to have his own approach to the game justified, if not with trophies, then with the scalp of the finest club in the world.

With this in mind, both managers have had their thoughts twisted as they attempt to outwit one another off the pitch.

Wenger has included the injured Robin Van Persie in his squad for the trip to the Nou Camp, having previously being advised by the club’s medical staff that he will be unavailable for the match.

The Frenchman pleads his innocence, suggesting he is “very bad” at mind games, but has had his fingers burnt in the past, most notably with Cesc Fabregas, and would only consider such an action for a game of this magnitude. His presence in Barcelona has more than a whiff of psychological warfare to it, especially given the absence of Barcelona’s two first-choice centre backs and the blank drawn against Sunderland last weekend.

“This morning he was unlikely to travel, but he wanted to go, so he had a test and it was quite positive.” He insisted.

“We will not take a gamble in a game of such importance. It will be fit or not fit. Personally I would like him to play if possible, but I will only play him if he is 100% fit.”

If Wenger was busy trying to out-think Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola, then the same was happening in Northern Spain – and Guardiola had his sights set on Jack Wilshere.

“We have many types of players like him (Wilshere) in the second team” Said Guardiola.

He is not the type of manager to criticise opponents, let alone single out a member of the opposition, so his comments raised a few eyebrows. Wilshere was excellent at the Emirates against his side and this will not have passed him by. It may have been a fairly innocuous comment about his age, but pressure does funny things to people, and this game is as big as it gets.

Elsewhere for Arsenal Theo Walcott and Alex Song have both already been ruled out, and the loss of the former will be felt most. Lionel Messi described Walcott as “the most dangerous” player Arsenal have prior to the first leg, and while his performance in that game was lacking, he hurt Barcelona last year and would have been hopeful of doing that same again this time around.

Wilshere has managed to shake off a knock he picked up against Sunderland while Fabregas has a “90% chance” of playing against his former side. Place a free bet in the hope that the defensive errors that marred the Carling Cup final will have to be ironed out, and Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny will be at the heart of an Arsenal defence charged with keeping the likes of Pedro, David Villa and Lionel Messi at bay.

With Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol already ruled out, Sergio Busquets and Eric Abidal will likely step into the side who have no other injury worries, aside from their manager who has had treatment on a back complaint but insists he will be in the dugout tonight.

Last season’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of Barcelona will be at the forefront of Arsenal’s mind as they emerge from the tunnel tonight, and they will have to learn the lessons of the first half display of their opponents from the first leg. Don’t forget those Free bets and be ready for this one, it should be a cracker if the previous three encounters between the two are anything to go by.

They will have to be patient and understand there will be large portions of the game where they will not have the ball, while maintaining a direct attacking edge when they do. If they can, then Wenger can finally put one of his personal demons to bed.

Mason made a meal but We had dessert in the end

By the end of first half last night I was livid, worse if I could I would be screaming at the top of my lungs calling Mason all sort of names which I did in my head anyway. It had to be quiet my little Gooner was already asleep upstairs. Not only his fellow colleague linesman made the wrong call when Saha was miles offside and gave the goal he also failed to notice how Everton stopped us from playing at every opportunity.

Now there are some mixed conclusions that Saha’s goal was either Onside and Offside. Let me point this out because this is the most important rule of them all and Saha at the time of the pass was clearly Offside. If this rule meant anything the linesman he should have flagged him Offside simple as that. It doesn’t mean shit if Koscielny touched the ball in any way as it certainly wasn’t a back pass to the keeper. This is obviously my opinion on the matter yours may differ in many ways.

What made me cringe even more was the fact that his ignorance to fouls committed by Everton was beyond belief. Jack got yellow for something that would never stand a chance of getting a yellow, Cesc was held by Rodwell a foul given no card, this was a tactical foul and surely deserved a yellow. Walcott elbowed by Arteta not even a foul given, Rosicky fouls straight yellow, Heitinga holding onto RVP foul given but no card and finally Fellaini stamping on Walcott off the ball was just an icing on top. Not only he ignored these he also never gave any advantage of play, I sensed he had definitely something against us and it felt as if corruption had something to do with this as well. It’s not for the first time Mason’s decisions were truly incompetent for a Premier League referee, clearly there is massive problem with referees these days and something needs to be done about it sooner rather than later. We can talk about this all day if we want to, we all know nothing will change anytime soon, as usual it will be brushed under the carpet.

Enough about those twisted individuals, we didn’t really had a good first half did we now? Passing was a bit sloppy and our penetration was no way near good enough for our standards, it took us sometime to find our stride and before you know, we were one nil down. Even our Captain admitted it was not good enough:

“It was a very testing game because we started losing, we didn’t start the game well at all, I think we were very very sloppy, we were not up for it since first minute”

“At that stage we can pay for it but fortunately the team stepped up in the second half, we realised that if we kept playing like that we were going nowhere, I think we did very well”

There’s not a great deal you can add to what Cesc said, I agree with his honest view of the game especially first half we looked as we had too much respect for Everton and allowed to play in our back yard. It backfired but we came on top in the second half. Our attitude, desire and hard work paid off as we produced the goods required to stay in the title race.

It was very good to see Arshavin getting goal, even though he did not celebrate putting us on level terms he did make up for it when Koscielny completely unmarked put us in front with a very decent header, great cross by Van Persie by the way. Credit to the lads they did us proud in every way, they worked hard for this victory and deserve their praise for an outstanding comeback. Looks like our little Meerkat is back, we all know he’s capable of great things and there is no better time for him to come back to his best in the absence of Nasri for the next three weeks.

I’m hoping Alex Song is not too badly injured, Arsene in his Press Conference said he couldn’t walk and that is rather worrying, hopefully he will recover in time for another tough fixture up north. Walcott also joins the medical treatment room, he has a ankle problem and wonder why, we all saw what happened at the end of the game last night.

I’m not too sure what Fabregas said to the fourth official at half time but it’s about time Cesc got to their faces, everyone else does it every week, at least he doesn’t go stamping on the ground like a 5 year old Rooney! He’s our Captain and he has the right to complain and question incorrect decisions. Moyes can say all he likes, he obviously had nothing else to say to defend his players, he just made himself look like a right twat!

I was going to finish on the high however I have just come across some bad news, it looks like Fabby will be out for the rest of the season. He just got back from Germany where underwent medical consultation to his injured shoulder. These proved to be not good and it looks like he will definitely need to undergo surgery. With Wojtek our current number one it’s probably a good thing that Almunia stayed at the club.

We should be two points behind Chelski!

Our loss against The Toon army is rather difficult to take as we should have been sitting two points behind Chelsea and level on points with Man U. Yet again this season we have lost at home in front of our own fans and there was zero effort, zero urgency and zero desire to win the game. Take away nothing from Newcastle they were very well organised at the back and made us look very poor at times especially in the midfield.

I couldn’t watch the game from kick off I had to pick up my cousin from Luton Airport, his plane landed just before the game. At about 1:25pm we got back to the car and we headed for the M1 South towards M25, radio was tuned in to Talksport which was painful enough  but this was the best I could at the time. I have thought about this fixture and knew this was going to be a hard one as they would be looking for revenge after we knocked them out in Carling Cup a week ago. Judging from what was being said on Talksport we didn’t look like the Arsenal we all know. The only chance we had in the first half was the Cesc free kick which hit the bar however our passing, fluency and desire just wasn’t there and as soon as they scored I feared it could have been one of those days. The whistle blew, end of first half by that time I was approaching Reading on the M4 so had another 5 minutes on the road, I got to my local and we managed to quickly get a pint each and take a seat in front of the big screen. I didn’t even think for a second I would witness such a abysmal display from our lads it was even more painful to watch it on live TV.

Second half started and still we were pretty much shit to be honest with you, we found it really hard to pass the ball in the midfield, our passing was awful we usually move in triangles and pass the ball well what the hell happened to us I thought? Theo should have scored when he had a chance, Cesc had a decent header but it was straight at their keeper. The only good thing about the second half was when Van Persie came on, Jesus I thought how many lagers have I had already? Is it really him? It was him indeed and it was really good so see him getting back to his best. He’s definitely not match fit  and will need few more games to see the best come out of him. We never looked like scoring in the second half  we pushed forward but it wasn’t working. In dying minutes there was no leadership and Koscienly got a straight red for holding onto Nile Ranger but for me this wasn’t a sending off as it wasn’t a foul.

Fabianski was 100% to blame for the goal but he never really got any help from his defenders. We created bugger all in the second half, Theo should have scored, if he’s a better finisher this season why can’t he do the job when badly needed? Our midfield run out of ideas and as soon as I saw Cesc launching long balls I knew it was going to be one of those days. It’s a funny old game you know we have given away 6 points at home already this season to lesser teams and this is totally unacceptable.

A very HUGE, MASSIVE, GIAGANTIC response is required against Wolves and they seem to have improved as well so it won’t be an easy game now. We have lost our spark and I’m worried it has to be said.

Squillaci to make Bolton Debut

I haven’t seen the Press Conference with Arsene yesterday, however it was confirmed that Verminator will miss the game against Bolton due to injury to his Achilles he picked up on International duty, thankfully it will only keep him out as far as the game against Bolton this afternoon. This news certainly comes in as suprise as we have already lost Walcott for up to six weeks while playing for England this week, which leaves us rather short in the striking force some would say, as RVP is out until mid October now and Bendtner still has four weeks to recover from his groin injury.

No doubt we need some experience at the back and Squillaci is the best we have at this very moment, he has all required experience however he lacks playing time in the Priemier League. It will be a huge test for him and Koscielny who need to be on their toes as Bolton by no means will be an easy game, so fingers crossed for both of them. They will hopefully have a good understanding with Alminua and another clean sheet at home.

The good news we had this week was that Nasri has recovered early and if required will take part this afternoon, it was also good to hear that Fabregas has noticed he hasn’t been playing well and is looking to improve his form:

“I was out of form and during the (Blackburn) game I knew it, but hopefully you’ll see an improvement (against Bolton). Nobody needs to tell me otherwise – I’m always hard on myself and aware when I’m playing badly.

“We’re ready for Bolton. It’ll be a hard game, but hopefully an enjoyable one – and one that, like any home game, we’re confident about.”

I will be watching Cesc closely as his body language was definitely not right lately. Let’s hope our Captian plays with his heart this afternoon and can show his good form again. Not too sure what the team sheet will look like but I have a feeling we will see Eboue to take over from Walcott on the right flank and Squillaci with Koscielny in the center  at the back. I’m suspecting Cesc to start with Jack and Song in the middle but I think Diaby will get the nod ahead of Jack as this will be a very physical encounter no doubt. This leaves Arshavin on the left and Chamakh up front and with his presence and work rate I have no doubts he will cause havoc in Bolton’s defence.

Looking at the bookies there is definitely a good deal on with Paddy Power with 9/1 for correct score line at 3:1 to the almighty Arsenal, I think I shall be having some of that and hopefully I will be collecting my winnings later on. For those of you going to The Grove this afternoon have a good time and get behind the lads on my behalf, I will have resort to a stream I will have to find just before we kick off.

Have a good day everyone and let’s kick some Bolton’s arses…

Come on you REDS!

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