Monday 28 November 2011

Manchester City (H)

Evening all, what an odd weekend its been in the world of football. Many people including myself are still getting over the shock of the sad loss of Gary Speed. When I heard it on the radio in the car it was one of those moments where you stop and think "I can't believe I've just heard that". It was a day as many people said when the football becomes irrelevant and I have to say full marks to those players brave enough to play after hearing the news 15 minutes before the team talk.

The sheer number of tributes that have been paid are a testament to what a true gent he really was. Everyone talks about what a lovely man he was and he was a real good guy on the football scene. He was also one of those players that everyone liked, he simply had no enemies. The reasons to why it happened can wait, naturally my thoughts are with the wife and two children he leaves behind, I hope they get the privacy and respect they need at this hard time.


The show must go on though and we look ahead to tomorrow nights Carling Cup clash with Man City at home. Now the team that we'll play is a real difficult one to pick, if we'd have drawn Crystal Palace then I think that we'd be talking about this in a whole different light. No disrespect to Palace but simply because its Man City, putting all of our hopes on our young lads is a bit harsh on them so Arsene has spoken about bulking up the side with a few regulars so to speak. But who they'll be remains a mystery. Apparently Walcott, RVP and Ramsey are on 'alert'. To be honest I'll be surprised if RVP starts, yes we're playing city, yes its a big game but I think its too risky. 

Picking their side is equally as difficult, I've lost track of who is and isn't a regular, I couldn't really care either. What we do know is that any team they put out will make it a challenge. Samir Na$ri returns to the Emirates to what I'm sure will be a less than warm welcome back. Whatever happens I'm sure it will be full of drama and have all that big match atmosphere.

Talking of atmosphere, the Emirates is often criticised for lacking it, but on Saturday evening it was anything but. Even after we went behind, the fans really got behind the team and after we equalised I really thought we were gonna nick it. But it simply didn't happen. That sad, if I get stuck behind the grown man who decided to stand on his fucking seat for the last 10 minutes tomorrow night, I'm kicking off.


So tomorrow will be a test regardless of who plays but I just have a feeling that we might do city over tomorrow. However I'm more often wrong than right. COYG!

Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City

Friday 25 November 2011

Fulham (H)

So we're through and top of the group to boot after a favour from Olympiakos who did a number on Marseille in France. We looked much better defensively and apart from conceding in the dying moments we had a good night. Song had an outstanding match and that was apparent when he beat 3 players and delivered a wonderful cross for RVP (who else) to power into the ground and give us a deserved lead. He got his second with a real old school Arsenal goal. Corner, flicked on at the near post, open goal and there you have it.

Sorry but I have to keep this rather short and sweet. We take on Fulham this weekend at the Emirates who have had a really poor season so far. Only 11 points from 12 games and a team that at home we should really take apart. Their man on form this season is Johnson whose scoring mainly in Europe but he's still finding the net. Dempsey and Zamora are also dangerous in the right position. 

So I imagine Wenger will play a team similar to the one that started last night. However after Gervinho's piss poor effort we may see the little Russian start instead, but that's up to Wenger. It was nice to see Diaby come on to a good reception and it would be nice to see him rack up some more game time especially as he gives us a bit more of an attacking threat. Not that we particularly need it.


In other news its nice to see that this weekends match will be dedicated to Save The Children, a very worth cause. All the players will be dedicating their days wages to the charity along with 50p from every matchday programme. There will also be a special matchday raffle to help raise funds. 


Right that's your lot for tonight. Until next time COYG!

Prediction: Arsenal 3-1 Fulham

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Borussia Dortmund (H)

Good morning all, once again its Champions League week. I was watching Napoli play Man City last night and a few things occurred to me, firstly its not an away day I'd particularly fancy but mainly the importance of keeping qualification in your hands. Now for Man City fans its all dependant on what Napoli do, not that I have any sympathy with those Manc pricks. On another quick note before moving on to the Arsenal, I really hope (should we both qualify) that we don't draw Napoli, but we'll deal with that should the time come.

Anyway now to Arsenal and there's a mix of team news ahead of tonight. Firstly some good news (I know right), Abou Diaby is in the squad tonight for the first time this season and it would be good to see him get some game time as I do think we've missed his attacking threat and power at times. I think he gets a bad press which is unjustified and a lot of this maybe because people are expecting him to be the next Viera and that's a huge ask. Whether he comes on as a sub or gets subbed I don't think he'll play a full 90 due to fitness etc. In other news Rosicky has picked up a "small thigh strain" which usually with Arsenal means he'll be out for months. Its a shame cause I think he's played really well this season after a nightmare last year, lets hope its a speedy recovery. The news from Wenger is that Van Persie will start which is promising. So I reckon it'll be something like this: Szczesny, Koscienly, Vermaelen, Mertescker, Santos, Song, Ramsey, Arteta/Diaby, Gervinho, Walcott, RVP


Now we all know that they are a good team and I was always under the impression that they were poor travellers but they beat Bayern Munich away at the weekend so there goes my theory. But still they are far stronger at home than they are away and hopefully we can use this to our advantage. So dangerous players and they have a few. Obviously the man with all the hype at the moment Mario Götze who broke Bayern at the weekend, but other threats come from Lewandowski and the Japanese man Kagawa who is a fantastic play maker and of course watch our for Ivan Perišić who scored against us in the reverse fixture.


Tonight's match is crucial, a win and we're there and if we win and Olympiakos do a job on Marseille then we'll go through top. But any other result tonight leaves us going to Olympiakos needing a result which is definitely not the situation we want to be in. Chances are we'll have to go there to get a result to go top but that far better than going there needing a result to progress.

Right I'm out Friday so all the build up to Fulham tomorrow. COYG!

Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
  

Thursday 17 November 2011

Norwich City (A)

And the internationals draws to a close after seeing England beat the world champions and scrap past Sweden. It was still boring to watch. Congratulations to the Irish team who smashed Estonia and qualified lets just pray England won't draw them cause we'll lose. 

Anyway we return to the Premier League this weekend and we travel to Premiership new boys Norwich. Norwich have been a bit of a surprise package this season and have played well but mainly on away days. Their home form hasn't been mind blowing and to be fair we should go there and get a result.

We seem to have escaped the Internationals without major injury (touch wood) so hopefully our team will look fairly positive on Saturday afternoon. Our man RVP only played one game when the Dutch coach very kindly let us have him back so we could nurture him and wrap him in cotton. But seriously its a good thing, these pointless internationals are simply another game for players to get injured and fatigued.


Anyway on to the team that we will face, the Canaries. Pilington, Holt and Morison are the men on form at the moment and they can certainly produce some good stuff if they're allowed too. However they've gone twelve games without a clean sheet and hopefully we can exploit this and pick up where we left off. The international break came at a bad time for us as we were putting together a nice run of form, picking up where we left off is the next task.

So I think we'll see something like: Szczesny, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Santos, Song, Ramsey, Arteta, Walcott, Gervinho, RVP. There was a ridiculous idea that we might not start Van Persie this weekend, which is the most idiot suggestion, for gods sake he's a footballer playing in the best league in the world, if we aren't going to play him in the PL then where. I honestly can't see that happening and if it does then I'll be shocked.

On a side note, it was nice to see Henry training with our players again, it brings the memories flooding back of the good times we had when he played and the great goals he brought us. But that was the past and we have to deal with the present. So hopefully this weekend we'll bring in 3 more lovely points. COYG!


Prediction: Norwich City 0-2 Arsenal   

Thursday 10 November 2011

Internationals, updates and apologies

OK once again I have to apologise, this last week have been a bit hectic with all sorts of things going on. But as of today normal service will resume with a match build up and preview and so on. However we now have two weeks of utterly pointless shit. Internationals, are enough to put anyone to sleep. Especially watching England, now I don't know how overseas readers feel about this, but basically I find watching England play is the most tedious, dull and painful experience. England win 5-0 and I still find it boring. I'm all for getting behind the country and being patriotic but when we watch that shit its hard to get excited.

So the internationals are times when Premier League football goes and has a little break and our players normally go and get injured. Lets hope that isn't the case. But all of the hype and normally scandal of the Premier League get forgotten and the most interesting piece of news we've had has been the whole Poppy situation. They have overturned it but haven't done themselves any favours over here by creating a fuss about it. That testicle-faced prick Blatter showing that he is as much of cunt as we all remember. 

Anyway, Arsenal news, well there isn't a lot of it to be honest with you. The site goes off with stories of our players on internationals which is boring as hell. Transfer news is also banded around but going into that would be totally pointless. As always just as we pick up some form there's an international break, we just have to hope that we keep our players fit and our momentum when we travel to Carrow road a week on Saturday. If we can keep this little run going into December then we will have certainly showed what we can do after a start that was our worst in years.

The performance against West Brom was solid and I do mean solid. Attacking, defending, the works. Admittedly it was helpful that West Brom offered virtually nothing going forward but it was as close to a typical Arsenal performance as we've come all season. All of the signs are promising lets hope we don't fuck it up in typical Arsenal style.

That's about it so until next week, have a good weekend. 

Thursday 3 November 2011

Marseille (H) match report

Again I have to apologise its been a hectic week. So once again I'm doing a report on the game last night. Well it wasn't the best game in fact a 0-0 is normally about as dull as they come. We just didn't look dangerous last night and our key players were poor and were on the bench. 

Santos is still yet to convince me that he is a solid left back. He's great going forward and all but I noticed last night that he was caught out of position and his passing last night was shocking. I lost count of how many times he sold our attackers short. To be fair there were very few players that impressed me. Ramsey had a shocker, myself along with the whole of the Clock End saw the opening for him to smash it in, but he delayed and was blocked off. To be fair to the lad hes still young and its a lot of pressure on his shoulders so the odd off game is to be expected.


 

Song had an average game, losing the ball and retaining it at will. Arteta was appalling, for a player with so much hype and build up apart from a free kick he had a poor game. Jenkinson showed his inexperience as he hesitated from time to time. Overall we just looked lethargic going forward, Walcott had a better game and may have scored if he had been released how he needs to be, quickly with a man to beat. Gervinho also struggled to get going.

There were some positives, Vermaelen had a good game and showed what we've missed so far this season. Park showed his potential but didn't really settle in to the game. When he came on Rosicky put himself about and again played well, showing that maybe hes over his injury issues.



So the big question, why didn't we start RVP? well I can understand the view of we don't want him to get injured but had he won us the game last night then we could have rested him in the next 2 CL games. He came on and had a great chance, but he tried the sublime and failed to chip the huge Mandanda. That was about that.

Apologies for missing another build up. Tonight there will be the WBA at home build up and prediction.

COGY!