Author: jamesgillesp

Get Well Soon Eduardo!!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal2 Comments

Today all our thoughts should be with Eduardo. The poor guy was on the end of a horrendous tackle on Saturday against Birmingham, at the beginning of what turned iut to be a very frustrating match. He suffered a broken leg after Taylor charged into him, it took nearly ten minutes to get him off to hospital. He is now in London in hospital, Arsenal.com is taking emails of support for him here.

It looks like he’ll be out for about 9 months, which is reasonable seeing as there were worries that it could have ended his career. We will miss him but hopefully Theo can step into the breach now, its a real opportunity for him to make his mark, now he needs to perform. Martin Taylor has been to the hospital to apologise to Eduardo, which is admirable.

The match itself had high and low points, we looked a little shell shocked in the first half, after the injury, and went behind to a McFadden freekick. In the second half we came out much more positively and within 10 minutes we were 2-1 up through 2 very well taken goals from Theo Walcott, his first in the Premiership. It all looked very good, but we didn’t capitalise on subsequent chances and come the 93rd minute Clichy had a moment of madness and took his eyes off the ball in the penalty box, allowing birmingham to steal in, Clichy’s tackle resulted in a debatable penalty, which was scored.

Gallas was visibly frustrated, kicked advertising hoardings and stood past the halfway line whilst the penalty was taken.. After the final whistle he remained on the pitch. It wasn’t good leadership and really he needs to step more into the role of a real captain, that isn’t what you want to see in the chase for a title bid.

Anyway, we have a few days now to get our heads straight and refocus. its Aston Villa on Saturday, they will be a tough test, playing well under O’Neill and in the race for fourth place. Flamini says the team is determined to win the title for Eduardo and we have to keep consistency in these last 11 games.

Right Lets Go – Forget the Man United Defeat

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Champions League, FA Cup

Much has been said about the defeat on Saturday, what I can say is:

  • We missed players in key areas.
  • We weren’t up for the game like United were.

That is what it comes down to, it seems a case of priorities. The CL and Premier League are seemingly more important to Wenger, and maybe, when the squad is thin as it is at the moment, it is right to prioritise.

I would like to see us go for every trophy, and I think we need to, but we shall have to see come the end of the season. Football is all about the winners. I don’t know whether those players should have been rested, and the defeat was very depressing but we have to look forward.

Enough has been said about the game and all we can hope is that it hasn’t had too much negative impact and that we can gain momentum over the next few games to take with us through the rest of the season. The season needs to be put in perspective, hype helps nobody.

AC Milan on Wednesday is another big game, the players need to be up for it and with the players back in the team who were rested on Saturday we could play well. I can only hope, we need to really go for it because we are in 2 competitions now and we need some trophies for a great team playing in a new stadium..

I don’t want to say any more about that!

In other news, Red and White Shareholdings and scummy Usmanov have upped their stake to just over 24% of the club. This isn’t good news and all I want to see is these crooks leave our good club alone, we don’t need the distraction, we are very well run as we are…

Arsenal Injury Injury, now on to Old Trafford

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, FA Cup

So, Man Utd at Old Trafford tomorrow, 5.15pm.

It looks like we have quite a big list of injuries to contend with, Kerrea Gilbert was on the bench against Blackburn, that shows how little coverage we have at the moment. Traore may start tomorrow, against Ronaldo, which doesn’t bode well.

In the end it is not the first priority, and I would rather have the Premiership than the FA Cup, As much I’d like to win everything the league is 38 games of consistent form and the cup is one off ties, so anything could happen tomorrow, whether we have a stronger team or not. As long as we keep winning I don’t mind!!

Adebayor is cool, so is Willy Gallas, against Blackburn it was so satisfying to see Adebayor get the goal he deserves and for him and Gallas to celebrate together.

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Adebayor, Give Him The Ball And He Will Score!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal2 Comments

The quickest post ever!

Adebayor = Goals

Arsenal 3-1 Man City = Two point gap at the top of the table & Man U and Chelsea draw.

Walcott to play for England U-21s, plus New signing Freeman impresses Wenger!

Love the Arsenal

Middlesbrough loss means a low Monday for the Arsenal

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Champions League, Injuries

A disappointing result yesterday, we lost 2-1 to Middlesbrough. I listened to the match on the radio in the car. From the sound of it we were pretty unfocused and they were much sharper.

We created little all day and their early penalty gave them the confidence to go on and get the win. Rosicky’s last minute goal was a mere consolation. It’s bad, and depressing, our unbeaten record is gone, but we are still top of the league by a point. Wenger took the defeat well and it looks like we might be able to put it behind us.

We need to forget about the bad result now and think ahead. Steaua Bucharest is our game on Wednesday in the Champions League, Wenger will most likely field a weakened side, fingers crossed we get top place in the group, but we are through anyway.

Looking to the next League game, we have Chelsea in the so-called ‘Grand Slam Sunday’ as it has been dubbed by the media. I hope that a few of the injured quartet: RVP, Flamini, Fabregas and Hleb are back. We have had a tough week without them, drawing and then losing in the North East. The backup we have is decent but not good enough, Gilberto has been quite poor in the games he has had, but Diarra has looked promising.

In any case they will all really need to be up for it against a Chelsea side which has been quietly progressing under Avram Grant, we really need to maintain our position at the top, and a Liverpool win or draw with Man Utd would be great too!

Sevilla vs. Arsenal tonight in the Champions League

On By jamesgillespIn Champions League1 Comment

Arsenal are playing Sevilla away tonight in our penultimate Champions League game. Arsene is resting Gallas and Adebayor, he defends his choice here. He makes a good point, that those two have played a lot of games recently, and the players coming in should be almost the same standard. Clichy has also not travelled due to a thigh problem he picked up at Wigan.

Against Slavia he made 8 changes and the team looked very unincisive, but tonight there is the incentive that a win will mean we top the group (and therefore play our first second round match away). Having said that even a draw leaves our fate in our own hands, with Steaua Bucharest at home to beat after. The younger players will hopefully take this as encouragement. I trust Wenger on this one, the players coming in are of good quality and fatigued and injured players are no good to anyone. Wenger says:

“Bendtner will get a start. He has played well when he has come on. But he had not the best game in Prague so I want to give him another chance.”

This is great, I think that Bendtner has looked really good when he has come on in games, especially against Wigan, he can win headers and is tall and powerful, as well as having passing, pace and goalscoring ability. Steve Bruce, who had him on loan last year with Birmingham, said he would love to have him back, so I reckon he has the potential to be a first team player. Lets hope he takes this chance to impress!

Kanoute says here that he is ‘relishing the challenge’..

Congratulations to Hleb, he has won the Belarus Player of the Year award, he must be getting used to it as he won it in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 and was the 2004 runner up!!

Keown, the old stalwart has commented on Fabregas and I couldn’t agree more with him when he says:

“Cesc is the orchestrator of everything. He’s developed into an outstanding player and looks like a natural winner,”

What more is there to say!!!

According to the Mirror Henry wanted Tevez at Arsenal…

An interesting link here about Arsene’s rebuilding..

Ok then, here’s to a win tonight!!

Gallas Gets Us There

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal2 Comments

A good 2-0 win over Wigan this weekend. We were without Fabregas (suspended), Flamini (thigh), Diaby (back) and and Gilberto (fatigue). Also we lost Hleb for 3 weeks, these Opta stats on Setanta are interesting.

The match itself was not particularly entertaining. I went down to the Armoury to get a stripy scarf before the kick off, but they were all sold out! They are really popular right now..Its great when all of the North West corner start jumping and swinging them, the atmosphere is improving all the time in Ashburton Grove.

Wigan came out to defend and that is what they did with little in the first half of note. Diarra and Denilson in the centre of the park looked ok, but not as incisive as Fabregas & Flamini who are the centre of the team when they play.. We missed that a bit I felt.

Second half, more and more frustration from the crowd and players.. A dirty tackle on Denilson from Bent a few minutes after a shove was the cause for a bit of a scuffle.. Bent got off with a yellow.. We came close a few times but Wigan still defended well. I started to think we wouldn’t score. Adebayor was very quiet. It looked bad when Walcott went down and was stretchered off after a bad tackle from Heskey, it seems he is ok and not badly injured, he played well which was very pleasing. The Boss brought on Eduardo and Bendtner (who looks very promising). The in the 83rd minute a good passing move saw Gallas play the ball near their area and continue with his run forward, making it to the near post as Sagna put a great cross in.. The header was immense and the celebrations were great, Gallas ran over to us as he seems to a lot now and all was happy, the frustration over, within a minute we broke again, Bendtner making an excellent run and playing it to Rosicky who played a good shot just inside the penalty area in off the post.. Wigan were undone from then and it was a great feeling when we heard Man U lost, so top of the table by 3 points and a game in hand. Not Bad..

I really am warming to Gallas, Toure says here about how great it is to be playing with Gallas as captain! I was sceptical about him but he really is showing his worth. Leading the side, scoring goals when we need them most and looking solid in defence. The resilience and patience of the team is amazing and there is an interview with Wenger here.

Meanwhile, Gilberto going the other way, out of the team with transfer stories rife, the Sun has story on him wanting to go to Juve.

“I would adapt myself well to the Italian league, however Juve should know that I have no intention of starting a war with Arsenal.”

This is fair enough for Gilberto, not in the team now, he obviously wants to play and if that means moving in January so be it. I worry about this as he brings experience and consistency to the team, and while we are playing well it is fine without him in the team, but what happens when we are facing tough opposition with a weakened midfield and little cover. It does seem a bit dodgy, but ‘Arsene knows’ what hes doing!

Our Premiership next game at home is Chelsea on the 16th. That will be a cracker! Cashley Cole says in an article here:

“Compared to what happened to the England guys, I am sure I will get much worse when I go back to Arsenal”

I’m sure he will, he’s a complete idiot and I have very little respect for him. What a *£$%.. Clichy is better than him, as has been shown this year..

Anelka, good on him for the goal on Saturday, has said:

“If you look now at the situation Arsenal are in and look at where I am, then you could say maybe I should have stayed.”

That is so funny, I remember how petulant he was, the whole saga, him joining Real.. What an idiot, now look at him, played for Man City, now Bolton, fighting relegation. Just shows how some players don’t realise how great Arsenal is to be at till they leave. Anyway glad we sold him cause since he left there have been some excellent seasons I wouldn’t change!

Finally a little on the trial of Tresor Mputu, loads of people are reading the articles on this guy, Wneger says here:

“He is a creative player and wants a chance in Europe. He has impressed so far.”

So not giving to much away, that would only fan the flames of speculation, but it sounds interesting, Wenger seems to like him!

See you tomorrow, Sevilla on Tuesday..

Almunia Matures, Gallas Has Fun With Wenger

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

Almunia speaks here on how he is maturing into his role in the first team, he has come in and played well this year, looked solid, without really being tested too much. He is still adjusting and maturing as he hasn’t been playing first team football for us before. He reckons the team are playing amazingly well, but rightly says there is stil a long way to go.

“I like to compare myself to a wine which gets better with age. I hope that I can keep getting better when I am 31, 32. I do not know how long I will go on for.”

Hopefully he will keep maturing, but I don’t see him as the long term option for Arsenal unless something changes drastically. He’s obiviously worried about the threat of Lehmann saying:

“If I am thinking about January or February in the next game I could make a couple of mistakes and be back on the bench. Football is very cruel – and especially with goalkeepers. That is why it is such a difficult position to play.”

Well at least he has a bit of pressure to keep him on his toes, I’m sure Lehmann would quite like to see him slip up, but lets all pry that doesn’t happen. I like Almunia, so hopefully he can go on and continue to do well for us.

Willy Gallas really has fun talking to Arsene Wenger and he’s chuffed to bits that he got made captain (over Toure and Gilberto)..He tells SkySports

“Before, I used to keep to myself. But I like those new responsibilities. I really have fun with the talks I have with Arsene Wenger.”

He says the reason for his injuries last year were because he wasn’t properly settled, he is looking a lot better this year, I am starting to like him, especially for that goal against Man U, although he still can only make one pass.

Euro 2008 qualifiers gone, we can all get back to the good stuff. No teams from Britian or Ireland in the Euro, how about a Home Nations next summer? Not with McClaren thats for sure he’s out, click here..

Reuters look forward to the weekends games here. With “Arsenal look set to show England how its done“. Well yeah, cause we don’t just hoof the ball to a freakishly tall man..

Our women’s team has been knocked out of the UEFA Women’s Cup after losing 3-2 on aggregate to Lyon, so they won’t have the chance to retain the title this year. It was their first defeat in 21 months!! Click here for more..

Bendtner has scored twice in 5 days for Denmark, round up of his performances and the other internationals here at Arsenal.com

Hleb was taken off at half-time due to injury in the Belarus – Holland match last night, Gunnerblog says it’s likely he will miss Wigan on Saturday.

Clichy talks about the foreign quota rubbish which is boring now but he makes a good point we have heard before:

“The nationality is not the main important thing, it is just the quality you want your team to play.”

As well as that they also have reviews of our 5 loanees, including Vela and Djourou here!!

Thank You, and Goodbye!

England Fail To Enamour

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

England just lost 3-2 against Croatia at Wembley. I don’t care about internationals, but I thought I should mention this from an Arsenal point of view anyway. Hey Modric looked good tonight, maybe we can sign him up, if we are in for him?

I won’t say much, I’m not bothered about England at all. The repercussions will be that McClaren is probably sacked, people will be going crazy about ‘so many foreign players in England’ sounding like the Church vs Darwin… Some people inevitably will be targeting Arsenal and Arsene over this…

The thing is the FA have been more bothered about Wembley than building a national centre of excellence, like Clarefontaine in France, to aid the development of players. I hate the crap that is said about foreign players, I think that people need to look hard at the facts.. They need a shock to realise that England are a load of rubbish and they are bloody lucky.

This should have happened earlier. They are not even comparable to N.Ireland or Scotland, or Ireland.. The media frenzy is going to be ugly and pointless.

Arsene’s Anger! Injuries & Transfers

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

So lets get it started:

Robin Van Persie has returned to full training, and will make the team on Saturday, not sure whether he will start. After 6 weeks out with a ligament injury it will be nice to have him back. Click here for more.

In all probability Flamini is going to miss the Wigan game through injury (not very sure what is going on here though!), ArsenalPies has an article here, Diaby is also injured. This leaves us without Flamini or Fabregas, never fear, we still have Hleb, Gilberto, Diarra, Denilson, and Song.. I’m sure Gilberto and Diarra will be salivating at Flamini’s misfortune, while Diaby curses in front of the telly at his bad luck.

Arsene has had a moan about the Ivory Coast’s “stubbornness” in calling up players for international tournaments. Toure and Eboue will both be called up over the winter for the African Cup of Nations. In 2006 both Toure and Eboue had to be pulled out of the FA Cup tie against Cardiff because they were called up for the maximum period, 15 days before their match! Just to go and sit in a hotel room! Wenger is really hacked off! Read here at the Beeb..

“They are so stubborn that there is no point in even speaking to them.” Arsene Wenger on the Ivory Coast FA..

Transfer rumours..

More sources are backing up the story that we are monitoring the Modric situation, with an eye to sign him, Chelsea are also moving in for a possible £30mill bid according to SkySports. The Telegraph says here he wants to move maybe this winter.

Apprently we are interseted in signing Martin Caceres, according to himself, as well as Juve and Real… The 19-yr old Uruguayan is a promising defender playing for Villareal (on loan at Recreativo). He has been compared to Montero in the Telegraph, click here. Seems a bit of speculation here.

Arsene has said he will not buy anyone unless they are exceptionally good, i.e. no buying for buying’s sake ! But will strengthen one area. Firstly on Caceres this is a rumour and I’m skeptical about it. Caceres would be a good signing for defence which isn’t so well covered especially as Toure and Eboue are both off to the African Cup of Nations this winter.

Luka Modric is seen as a great talent and obviously really wants to come to the Premiership, but we rarely sign players we are linked with in this way and I can see Chelsea snapping him up quite easily, only to assign him to the reserves.

Also on Agbonlahor, he has come out to say that, yes, the rumours about his move to Arsenal were pure speculation.

UPDATE: Seeing as the Mputu post is proving so popular I thought I’d do a bit more coverage on the guy.
Tresor Mputu, 21 years old, Congo striker with 3 goals in 12 caps for his country.

He has played for TP Mazembe since 2004, a prolific goalscorer. See one on YouTube click here check out the goalkeeper’s celebration.

He Scored twice during the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign. He started the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations well, scoring a goal against Togo, but he was sent off against Angola and was suspended for the rest of the tournament.<

His manager says he is the best young African striker.

He's currently on a 10 day trial at Arsenal, his agent says the transfer is 70% done.

Walcott on wanting to bring his Under-21 form back to Arsenal here.

Also Jol has rejected an offer from Birmingham City for him..

Plus Win a copy of The Arsenal Miscellany signed by Frank McLintock! on Arsenal-Mania.