Category: Arsenal

Gallas ‘outburst’ makes Man City clash more crucial than ever

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

This is a guest post by sports writer Thomas Rooney

It’s certainly not boring being an Arsenal fan these days is it? There always seems to be something going on at the Emirates that will dominate the national press in the lead up to games. This attention is sometimes positive, but more often that not – it’s negative and has an impact on the whole club.

The last few weeks have been more up and down than ever, it has to be said. First there was the fantastic performance at Fenerbahce, followed by an encouraging away win at West Ham. Then there was the disappointing draw with Spurs and the Rory Delap influenced defeat at newly promoted Stoke City.

The Gunners were able to pick it up again the following weekend to record a priceless win over Manchester United at the Emirates. Everyone decided that this was the result that would kick-start the season and it was now time to hit top form. However, consistent with the ‘up then down’ pattern of the season so far – Arsene Wenger’s team proceeded to lose at home to Aston Villa.

Now the party line is that Arsenal’s title challenge is over and that the season might as well end now. Unsurprisingly, this is a point in the season when the captain of the club needs to come out and rally his troops. With their backs against the wall, the team spirit needs to be stronger than ever.

So, Arsenal captain William Gallas decides the best thing to do is brand his fellow team mates ‘not brave enough’ and reveal that there were a number of arguments in the dressing room at half time of the Tottenham game including one player who ‘insulted’ his team mates with a negative attitude.

These are, of course, not encouraging comments to hear. Nobody wants to believe that there are potential splits in the dressing room or bitterness between Arsenal players. That’s going to do nothing for the results on the pitch after all is it?

Personally, I am going to defend Gallas slightly on this. Yesterday, Sky Sports News revealed the quotes of this ‘outburst’ and focused heavily on the negative stuff. However, Gallas also asked his team to be ‘soldiers’ and that every single weekend they need ‘to fight’.

There is no doubt that this whole scenario is being used by Gallas to fire up his players. Why else would he come out with these comments on a Wednesday in between games? It’s not as if they were heat of the moment comments is it?

Something that Gallas’ views do, regardless of whether you are happy with him, is make this weekend’s clash with Manchester City extremely important. If Arsenal grab a win, it will be Gallas’ comments partly responsible and it could really fire up Wenger’s men for a decent run. If it’s another defeat, then god help Gallas. He will be criticised from every angle and the dreaded ‘crisis’ word will be branded about all over the show.

As for the Manchester City game, well they are strong at home and have a lot of attacking ability in their ranks. Therefore, Gallas and co will be well and truly tested at the back. Arsenal haven’t lost back to back games for 58 league encounters. I don’t think I am alone in having a sinking feeling about this one though.

By Thomas Rooney

Arsenal 0 – 2 Aston Villa highlights – Arsenal don’t have what it takes..

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Video

Arsenal 0 – 2 Villa: Clichy 70 og, Agbonlahor 80

Today didn’t start well for Arsenal, we lost the coin toss, and Villa chose to switch sides, so we were attacking the north end in the 1st half, the players prefer to attack the north in the 2nd! Overall I witnessed a a very disappointing Arsenal lose to Villa, with two goals in the last 20 minutes.

It could have gone better for Arsenal, we had most of the possession, but we couldn’t break into Villa, who defended in numbers, and cut out our passes. In the first half Villa got a penalty which was badly taken and Almunia saved, but apart from the goals they didn’t have many chances. Villa’s goals came on the break, both times an Arsenal player was fouled in the build-up.

The refereeing was shocking all game, Denilson got a yellow within minutes of kickoff, while Villa went unpunished for their fouls for much of the game. One of our best chances of a goal was ruined by Riley stopping play for a VIlla player down, while Sagna went down seriously injured in the second half and play didn’t stop – leading to Villa’s first goal.

Agbonlahor and Young’s pitiful celebrations right in front of our section didn’t really do much for my impressions of them, Agbonlahor taunting Arsenal fans, and they wonder why people throw things at them?

I think all in all we can say that Arsenal aren’t consistent enought to win the title this season. We still have defensive frailities which haven’t been resolved, and when we have Adebayor and Van Persie both out we don’t look like scoring.

Bendtner is a player with potential, but he can’t play on his own up front. On that point, I don’t think we got the tactics right today. Starting with 5 in midfield and Bendtner upfront worked against Man Utd, but we could have exploited Villa’s weaknesses better if we had started with Adebayor and Vela paired, which is what the Boss did at the end of the game.

A poor result, a 10 years ago we were a very different team, and I wouldn’t expect us to drop points at home. We are now 9 points adrift. Arsenal can challenge for the title still, but right now we haven’t got any consistency at all. I’ll leave you with Wenger’s comment (BBC):

“We can play very well, but at the top level performances have to be consistent. I always say the first sign of quality is consistency, so this was frustrating after beating Manchester United.”

Highlights here

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Gallas promotes his leadership skills as Arsenal look to close gap on leaders

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Injuries

This is a guest post by sports writer Thomas Rooney

First of all, attention has to be paid to the fantastic week Arsenal have had. Since my post last Friday, the Gunners defeated Manchester United (highlights here) to keep their title hopes alive, then on Wednesday the ‘kids’ proved how talented they are once again as they brushed aside Wigan in the Carling Cup (highlights here).

All in all, it has been a remarkable and pleasing turnaround that could just kick start the season once again. Of course, a lot of hard work would be undone if Arsene Wenger’s side fail to continue their return to form against Aston Villa this weekend – so here’s to another three points!

Speaking ahead of the clash at the Emirates, Arsenal captain William Gallas has hit back at critics that have suggested he doesn’t have the correct attitude to be the club’s skipper. Ever since his bizarre reaction to the 2-2 draw at Birmingham last season, his leadership skills have certainly been under the microscope.

Gallas believes that he has always been a decent captain for his side though and insists the criticism he occasionally receives is only after poor results. The Frenchman said that after the Manchester United win ‘everyone was saying my leadership was good’ despite questions over it before the game.

To be honest, I think he has a point here. As we all know, football is a results business. Gallas went on to say that he actually thought he had ‘a better game against Spurs’ which emphasises how much a win means to fans.

As long as the team wins, the criticism will be heavily reduced. That’s why Gallas finished by saying that at the end of the season the only thing that matters is that Arsenal have a trophy because ‘everything else is forgotten’.

So, the Aston Villa game tomorrow. Martin O’Neill’s side have been hailed as the only team capable of breaking the top four places in the Premier League and they certainly have a team of more than capable players. They only sit three points behind the Gunners, so a win is an absolute must for the home team.

As far as team news goes, well the ‘big guns’ are set to return despite the impressive showing in the Carling Cup at the weekend. Emmanuel Adebayor and Manuel Almunia should take their place in the starting line-up, as will the already mentioned Gallas. Robin van Persie is suspended though and Emmanuel Eboue is still suffering with a knee injury.

Arsenal are unbeaten in 19 Premier League matches against Villa, but have failed to beat them in the league at the Emirates as yet. Two 1-1 draws have been produced in the last couple of seasons. This time around though, I expect a confident Arsenal performance against a team that will be rather down after their home defeat to Middlesbrough last weekend.

By Thomas Rooney

Arsenal 3 – 0 Wigan highlights, Carling Cup Kids win in style!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Carling Cup, Video1 Comment

I watched a fantastic young Arsenal side beat Wigan tonight. The average age of our team was just 18.7 years old, and they played fantastically, and beat Wigan with 3 excellent goals and dominated the game with large amounts of possession.

Arsenal started well with plenty of great chances keeping Kirkland very busy. We could have had 5 in the first half, Vela, Wilshere, Simpson and Ramsey all sparkling.

Wilshere set up the first goal, he played a defence splitting pass through the middle to Simpson who poked it past the onrushing Kirkland.

In the second half a punch out by Fabianski to Ramsey who played an amazing long ball 2/3s of the pitch, Vela was running onto it and beat the defender, rushing into the box, and pulling it back for Simpson to smash home another.

Minutes later, a run forward from Djourou and a lovely pass forward put through Vela. His first touch was amazing, and under pressure he put a delightful lob over Kirkland to make it 3.

Click here to view the full highlights.

The whole team played fantastically and Wenger has pledged to stick with them. Why not? He says they are the most complete youth side we have ever had.

Very exciting to watch, and I think some of those names will be much more familiar to us come next season.

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Arsenal vs. Wigan – Vela and Bischoff in! Adebayor singing!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Carling Cup, Video2 Comments

Arsenal play Wigan tonight in the Carling Cup, the squads have been announced, we’ve got Bischoff set to make his debut, and Vela should play up front with Ramsey and Wilshere in midfield.

The Boss has been talking about what a gamble signing Bischoff was this summer, he had injury problems for a few years, and he didn’t play much for Werder Bremen.

Also have a look at this video of Adebayor singing at Stamford Bridge!

Lovely stuff!

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ArseSpeak Competition winner!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

We have made the draw for the winner of the Arsenal shirt competiton, thanks to all of you who entered!

I’ve been tracking the numbers and I was pleasantly suprised, we had 24 entrants and I hope all of you will continue to be loyal readers of the blog!

Now, onto business, I can announce that the winner of the Arsenal shirt competition was:

Timothy Clark – an e-mail is on its way to you now, enjoy your prize!

Arsenal 2 – 1 Man Utd Highlights: Update, and the 5 man midfield

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Video

The highlights from the Man Utd game can be found here! Enjoy watching, I did! Click here for the first article.

Wenger has also been talking about the 5 man midfield and its benefits for our poor defensive record:

“I will use it again because going forward we have scored many goals but defensively we have conceded too many from outside the box,”

“I don’t know [about what will happen when all the strikers are back]. I took this decision because I tried to balance the team with the players that were available.”

This is absolutely true, we need more support for the defence at the moment as they seem to be struggling with just Fabregas and Denilson in front of them.

The 5 man midfield has been very successful us, and although I wouldn’t recommend it for every game of the season, a strategic deployment when needed is very wise.

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Arsenal 2-1 Man Utd highlights, super Sam!

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal8 Comments

We did it! I still can’t quite believe it, but we beat Man Utd 2-1 at home. Nasri’s two fantastic goals gave us 3 points! We played with a weakened side, and we had just come off the back of some awful results and we still did it! The lift this will give the team will be amazing. The game started tentatively, but we got into our game as it went on. We defended hard throughout the match, and we did close the game, bringing on the likes of Toure and Alex Song. We still conceded in the 90th minute, to a goal which we couldn’t have saved, and that put us in for 6 horrible minutes of injury time. But a great win and special mentions to Nasri, Gallas, Fabregas and Diaby who all played fantastically!

Arsenal vs. Man Utd, make or break time, plus competition ends

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

We’ve got Man Utd today, I’m off to the game in a few hours. Bendtner has been making comments about how we can still win the title.

I think we can win the title but today is a real test, we will be written off if we don’t get a result, and the team spirit will be very low, but if we do win we are still in.

In the end we aren’t much through the season and it’s a long season, so we will see what Wenger can pull off.

Also the competition to win the shirt is now closed, the winner will be announced on Monday! You can still sign up to our news feed though, here!

Toure stays positive as Arsenal look to get back to winning ways

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

This is a guest post by sports writer Thomas Rooney

To say that tomorrow’s game against Manchester United is crucial would probably rank as the biggest understatement of the season. After three games in all competitions without a win, it is vital that Arsenal at least avoid defeat against the Premier League champions.

If this fails to be achieved, then the confidence will be at an all-time low and the chance of Arsene Wenger’s side launching a title challenge would seem all the more unlikely. A nine point gap, even at this stage of the season, would probably be too much.

Speaking ahead of the game, Arsenal defender Kolo Toure has revealed that he and his team-mates are viewing the Manchester United game as a potential turning point for their season. The 27-year-old has said that a win would be ‘really fantastic’ and would prove to the critics that Arsenal ‘would be there for the title’.

Sometimes these type of comments have to be taken with a pinch of salt – what else is Toure going to say other than a win is important? However, this time around, the Arsenal man is bang on the money. A victory tomorrow would do wonders for the belief in the dressing room could be the start of a long unbeaten run for the team.

As Toure rightly points out, the season is ‘not in the second half yet’ and therefore it is important not to panic. However, I think he knows as much as anyone that defeat at the Emirates tomorrow really could have a detrimental effect.  Arsenal will continue to ‘fight for the title’ regardless of the result, but this fight would be made a hell of a lot easier should they pick up the three points.

In terms of the team news for tomorrow’s clash, Arsenal have been hit with a number of injury problems. Theo Walcott, Bacary Sagna and William Gallas are doubtful, while Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Eboue are definitely out of the game.

These injuries mean that Nicklas Bendtner and Carlos Vela are going to be charged with the responsibility of breaking down Manchester United’s defence and getting the goals that win Arsenal the game. Neither of these youngsters will hold any fear going into this match, so perhaps their raw talent can prosper.

Overall, it is going to be a game where Arsenal fans arrive in hope rather than expectation. However, should the team pull together and produce a winning performance; it really could be the start of the turnaround.