December 4, 2009

Arsenal sticking to formation

Samir Nasri remains convinced that the 4-3-3 formation can help Arsenal in their quest for Premier League glory.

The French international was brought to the Emirates from Marseille in 2008 and recently made his 50th appearance for the club, with his time in North London hit by a number of injury problems.

He is looking to remain at Arsenal for many years and feels he can offer a lot to the side in the future. The Gunners currently sit fourth in the Premier League table and are 11 points behind leaders Chelsea after the West London side beat them 3-0 at the Emirates at the weekend.

Nasri claims the 4-3-3 formation that Arsene Wenger has been using this season suits the players which he has at his disposal and can be used efficiently to beat teams this season.

“I think that the 4-3-3 has worked because of the quality here,” he said. “It enables not just me but everyone to express themselves. I think that at the end of last season we adopted this style against Chelsea and some of the others, but it suits me as I can play on the left, on the right or in the middle and is something I’m well suited to.”

Wenger came out earlier this week and insisted that Arsenal were still capable of upsetting the football betting odds and winning the title despite lagging behind in the table.

According to the Frenchman, Chelsea can drop points over the rest of the season and his side need to continue picking up wins to make up ground.

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November 21, 2009

Nike CTR360 Trequartista Review at Sunderland H/T

Well it’s 0-0 at half time in the Sunderland game, things running reasonably smoothly if a little sluggish. Arsenal need to move up a gear in the second half.

Meanwhile I’ve been trying out some new football boots from the guys at Soccerpro. I gave the Nike CTR360 Trequartista boots a go and they are fantastic. I wore them for the first time with my 6 a-side team the other day and I noticed the difference. They are light and feel pretty good on your feet.

Overall I would say they’re sleek and stylish without making you look like a Cristiano Ronaldo wannabe. They’re comfy and look stylish, but not too flash.

I haven’t had a new pair of boots in years and my old pair were looking a little battered. Nike have done a good job on the Nike CTR360 range, there are loads of features, laces angled to the side, pads on the sides improve ball control.

I went for the artificial surfaces studs as that is what I usually play on these days, but they work equally well on turf too. If you want to you can go for moulded studs made for grass surfaces, or proper studs, which are a little more expensive.

They are listed under soccer shoes on the Soccerpro website, if I were you I’d try and get my hands on a pair!

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November 17, 2009

Arsenal hit by striker blow

Arsenal’s bid for glory domestically and in Europe could be affected as Robin van Persie is to be out for at least six weeks after suffering an ankle injury while on international duty.

It seems a safe football bet that Arsene Wenger will feel aggrieved that his forward sustained ankle ligament damage after only ten minutes of Holland’s international friendly against Italy.

Van Persie landed in an awkward manner on his right ankle after he was challenged by Giorgio Chiellini and a scan to assess the injury luckily found that surgery was not necessary.

The Dutch forward, who has scored eight goals this season and made the same number of assists, is expected to be out for around six weeks and will miss vital Premier League games, including the one against leaders Chelsea on November 29th.

He will also be out for Arsenal’s remaining Champions League group games, however the club are all but secure in their qualification after their recent 4-1 win over AZ Alkmaar.

After the Italy game, a Dutch Football Association official confirmed to the BBC that van Persie had suffered a “serious injury”.

“It’s impossible to put an exact timeframe on it because some players heal more quickly than others. It’s not a short-term injury,” he said.

Arsenal are set to be short of strikers as Nicklas Bendtner is also expected to be missing for around a month after undergoing minor surgery on his groin last week.

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November 5, 2009

Arsenal ’still one of Europe’s elite’

Arsenal are still one of the best teams not only in the Premier League but in Europe, according to Arsene Wenger. The Frenchman recently became Arsenal’s longest-serving manager and still believes his side are up there with the best, despite never winning the UEFA Champions League.

Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole recently said in an interview with the Daily Mirror that any club looking to claim to be among the best on the continent needs to win the Champions League.

Wenger compared the West London team to his Arsenal side, stating they have previously flirted with the cup but have never managed to win it, something which he believes Arsenal will do in the near future.

He stated that Arsenal are an “elite club” and one of only two to have played in the Champions League on 12 consecutive occasions and are currently ranked in the top eight seeds in Europe.

Speaking about the Champions League, he said: “We have been in the final, we have been in the semi-final and at some stage I think being here every year we will win it.”

Wenger’s confidence has been matched by that of his Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin. The midfielder claims Arsenal’s current 11-match unbeaten run shows how the side can compete for top honours, including the Premier League, and stated they need to channel their belief in order to upset the football odds and succeed this season.

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October 28, 2009

Arsenal 2 – 1 Liverpool: Carling Cup

A good result against a half strength Liverpool team tonight.

We played a mixture of subs (Eduardo, Gibbs, Ramsey, Bendtner), reserves (Senderos, Sylvestre), injury returns (Nasri) and youth players (Gilbert, Eastmond).

The game saw some end to end football by both teams. Arsenal’s passing was exquisite at times, although it got very sloppy towards the end.

Babel was awful for Liverpool and negated almost every attack they attempted, I am glad we didn’t sign him.

Merida’s goal was fantastic, as was Insua’s, Bendtner managed to finish Liverpool off with a good strike on 50 minutes.

Eastmond made a decent debut, I was also really impressed with Nasri – he was fantastic, and looked really hungry for the win. Wenger may have a selection problem with him back in contention.

Overall a good performance, Sanchez Watt, Gibbs, Eduardo, Ramsey, Merida and Nasri particuarly impressed me. Senderos and Sylvestre had good and bad spells in defence. I wouldn’t like to see them against higher quality than Babel and Voronin to be honest.

So through to the next round, with the important game against Tottenham coming up on Saturday at 12.45.

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October 18, 2009

Arsenal made hard work out of Birmingham City

3-1 is a respectable result against Birmingham City, they played an organised game, with the usual physical approach.

It was what you would have expected, and they weren’t pushovers. Two early goals left me thinking that we would cruise to victory.

But Mannone’s flapping at a looping header in the box allowed Bowyer to make it 2-1 before half-time and we seemed to lose fluency.

RVP and Cesc were misfiring, although I was impressed by the workrate of Emmanuel Eboue, or Bouman as the mental man sitting behind me insisted on calling him all afternoon, in between shouting about the state of English football.

Walcott’s injury is a worry – he looks like he will be out for Tuesday, and it just causes another hold-up to his recovery.

The team looks good, and we are consistently moving up the table, what with Chelsea losing and Liverpool losing out to a beach ball.

Wenger has the balance right in this squad – as long as we don’t get bogged down in injuries.

The game looked in the balance for most of the second half – I’ll put that down to jadedness after the Internationals.

In the end Arshavin pulled something special out of the bag, and curled a lovely shot round Hart in the 86th minute.

A pleasing result, and another win. I think we now hold the record for most goals scored after this many games of the Premier League season.

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September 30, 2009

What are Arsene Wenger’s best quotes as Arsenal boss?

 

What are Arsene Wenger’s best quotes as Arsenal boss?
To my mind, Arsene Wenger has brought a huge amount to the Premier
League. He introduced strict training regimes, promoted the importance
of a club’s youth policy, nurtured some of the world’s best players
and entertained us with Arsenal’s passing football.
Amongst all this though, he has provided the media with some fantastic
quotations over the years. Whether he is being deadly serious,
humorous, having a rant or commenting on the England national team, it
is always of interest.
Here are some of my personal favourites, but please comment with some
of yours as well. There are plenty out there!
“Is the title over or not? I don’t believe so. If everyone is right
about the championship, then let’s stop, give them the trophy and then
start again.”
“At a young age winning is not the most important thing… the
important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good
confidence.”
“We didn’t think he (Reyes) would play on Sunday because he was
suspended – that makes me think he has all the qualities to join
Arsenal!”
“I’m ready to take the blame for all the problems of English football
if that is what he (Ferguson) wants.”
“We do not buy superstars. We make them.”
There you go then, a few to get you going. What are your favourite
Wenger quotes? Do you think he should speak his mind as much as he
does? Leave a comment to let me know what you think.
Excellent win last night by the way. It was a really professional
display where Arsenal had to be patient, but eventually got the goals
that their performance deserved. To have Arshavin playing in the
Champions League is such a bonus and he is turning into one of
Wenger’s most influential players.
Should be another victory against Blackburn at home this weekend, but
in the mean time – let me hear your favourite Wenger quotes!To my mind, Arsene Wenger has brought a huge amount to the Premier

To my mind, Arsene Wenger has brought a huge amount to the Premier League. He introduced strict training regimes, promoted the importance of a club’s youth policy, nurtured some of the world’s best players, and entertained us with Arsenal’s passing football.

Amongst all this though, he has provided the media with some fantastic quotations over the years. Whether he is being deadly serious, humorous, having a rant or commenting on the England national team, it is always of interest.

Here are some of my personal favourites, but please comment with some of yours as well. There are plenty out there!

“Is the title over or not? I don’t believe so. If everyone is right about the championship, then let’s stop, give them the trophy and then start again.”

“At a young age winning is not the most important thing…the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence.”

“We didn’t think he (Reyes) would play on Sunday because he was suspended – that makes me think he has all the qualities to join Arsenal!”

“I’m ready to take the blame for all the problems of English football if that is what he (Ferguson) wants.”

“We do not buy superstars. We make them.”

There you go then, a few to get you going. What are your favourite Wenger quotes? Do you think he should speak his mind as much as he does? Leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Excellent win last night by the way. It was a really professional display where Arsenal had to be patient, but eventually got the goals that their performance deserved. To have Arshavin playing in the Champions League is such a bonus and he is turning into one of Wenger’s most influential players.

Should be another Premier League victory against Blackburn at home this weekend, but in the mean time – let me hear your favourite Wenger quotes!

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