liverpool – Page 3

Two men have signed a new contract at Arsenal.. No Flamini isn’t one.. It’s Manuel and Fran Merida. The man who has taken Lehmann’s spot this season and performed well as the new ‘No.1’ or at least I think so, and our young Spanish prodigy currently on loan in Spain with Real Sociedad.

I said earlier in the season that I wasn’t sure if Almunia was a long term option in goal but the more he plays the more I feel he is a solid part of the team. His deal is long term and Almunia himself said:

“I talked to my wife and I said I did not want to go back to Spain to play. Hopefully I can finish my career here”

Most goals we concede are due to defensive errors and generally this season I think he has done a sterling job. Well done Manny!

Injury news ahead of Saturday is that, Van Persie is only 20% certain to play, and Adebayor also has a slight knock which Wenger will review today.

Recently while reading some forum posts, I came across an interesting post about our strikers, basically saying that we need the chequebook out this summer to sign some strikers. I thought I’d give my own opinions and find out yours.

Adebayor: Works hard all over the pitch, sometimes a little too hard. Has definitely got the talent to perform at the highest level. Scored 19 league goals this season, but has come in for a bit of stick recently. I think it’s undeserved, he has had many different partners this year and has often had to lead the attack on his own. He’s a versatile, pacy player who has a great future.

Van Persie: Well, a man with a lethal left foot and bags of talent, but hasn’t had the chance to shine due to terrible injury problems. I saw his appearance stats and he has only played about as many games as Justin Hoyte, not really a first-team player, in his time here. Flashes of brilliance i.e. volley against Charlton last season, but needs to be injury-free to really be useful.

Walcott: Great potential for the future, pacy, intelligent and able to score goals. He got off the mark, in the League , against Birmingham in that 2-2 draw this year and is certainly a bright hope. I think he has warranted a starting position, at least on the right wing for his recent performances. Maybe not ready for the pressure of being a first choice striker?

Bendtner: Another one with great potential, but he hasn’t lived up to it, occasionally we have seen great things, his aerial ability, great control and touch and a good ability to make space, but he is still young and needs to mature.

Eduardo: He was starting to get into his goalscoring role before his injury and looked like the goalscorer we have been looking for, out for 9 months now after his horrific leg-break, hopefully he will come back with goals, but you can never be certain he will be the same player.

So in summary, Ade, a great player – needs a good partner up front. RVP, injury prone, but could perform. Walcott and Bendtner – great potential but need more experience, and Eduardo is out injured for a long period.

It seems to me that Arsene should consider making an investment in the summer… What do you think? Feel free to get involved, just leave a comment!

World of Arsenal has a good match report here

It seems like we should have won. 1-1 is not an awful result, but the away goal most definitely gives Liverpool the advantage going into the Second leg at Anfield.

I watched the highlights on the net, click here to see them.

Goals: Adebayor ’23, Kuyt ’26

It seems that we dominated much of the match. Hleb had a good appeal for a penalty denied, and Bendtner blocked Cesc’s shot on the line by accident, but was offside anyway. It’s frustrating that when we play well at home we still draw, and the goal we conceded was pretty weak, Flamini lost the ball, there were a few weak challenges on Gerrard, who managed to get a cross in to Kuyt who bundled it over the line.

Wenger:

“The whole second half we played in one half. I cannot fault the players. We were unlucky under a few circumstances…If you look at the amount of possession we had tonight compared to Liverpool, it is frightening”

Disappointingly Van Persie went off with a thigh strain, Wenger says it was a precaution against a recurrence of his previous injury. Robin really is quite injury prone at the moment. I just hope he gets it fixed. Theo came on for him and did well, he really is starting to make a good claim for a starting position, he has a good impact whenever he comes on for us.

We are still in a good position to go through, this is a mental test for us as Wenger said. Now we face Liverpool on Saturday at home in the Premiership, I think the way this game goes could influence the 2nd leg of the Quarter Final. We definitely have the talent to do well in the next 2 games against the Scousers, but how the games actually go is another matter!

In Wenger’s words: