Transfer Rumours: Eboue, Yaya, plus Adebayor gives Gallas his backing

On January 8, 2009January 8, 2009 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, FA Cup, Transfers2 Comments

Inter Milan have been linked with a bid for Emmanuel Eboue, this is a transfer rumour many of you won’t have been expecting! It seems pretty unfounded – we don’t need to sell players during this window, our squad is threadbare enough already.

The same goes for the rumour that Barca are bidding £45 million for Cesc and Van Persie this summer. Fabregas will be linked with Barcelona as long as he is at Arsenal. The club cannot realistically sell him or RVP and this is just another tactic to unsettle him. If we don’t finish 4th this season things could look rather different though.

Yaya Toure’s agent has told the press that he is going nowhere:

‘Toure is happy at Barca, currently the best team in Europe and he has no intention of moving,’

I wouldn’t disagree with him, if anything it is more likely that Man City will sign him. If Arsenal do sign a holding midfielder then I doubt he will be such a big name.

Adebayor has backed Gallas’ comments earlier this season about our form:

“Gallas has always been like that – he has experience, he has won titles, played in a World Cup final. He doesn’t throw these thoughts around lightly. He said something because it was necessary to do it. “He is indispensable to the team. He is Arsenal’s rock – his behaviour since the armband was taken off him proves that.”

Update: Gallas is now out for a few weeks with a hamstring injury, as well as Silvestre, so Toure will get his chance.

Ade went on to explain our recent form:

“At the moment, when we take the lead, we are scared. We tremble until the final whistle because the team is young and we have conceded several goals in the last few minutes of matches.

I think he is right there, but with results will come confidence. We have looked shaky after taking leads in games, and this is a problem that began last season, at the beginning of 2008 when we lost our lead at the top of the table. If we can regain our confidence we can definitely perform better in the second half of this season.

With injured players like Walcott, Eddy and maybe ??Rosicky?? returning in the next few weeks we should be able to maintain some consistency. As long as we get 4th place this season I’ll be happy, but serious investment is needed for next season.

Ahead of the Cardiff City 4th Round tie Arsenal have been allocated 4000 seats at Ninian Park.

Arsenal 3 – 1 Plymouth Highlights. Cardiff next in the FA Cup & Walcott’s contract frustration

On January 4, 2009September 4, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, FA Cup, Video4 Comments

Arsenal 3 -1 Plymouth: Van Persie 47, Gray 50 og, Duguid 53, Van Persie 85. Highlights here.

Arsenal put themselves through to a 4th Round tie at Ninian Park in the FA Cup after a 3 – 1 victory over Plymouth.

The first half was all Arsenal, but to little effect. We had few shots on goal and the possesion we had didn’t have an impact. It was good to see Ramsey play, I thought he had a good game, Gunnerblog has a few points about him here.

The second half started with a bang, two Arsenal goals, RVP got the first from a corner and then a Gray own goal just minutes later.

Plymouth came back with a goal and their 8,500 fans went mental. It was quite refreshing to see some more enthusiatic support in the Emirates this season. The sombreros went flying through the air to shouts of ole! when Vela came on, and to good effect.

Our third goal was deserved, RVP attempted a lob, the keeper deflected it, and RVP went round him to put the ball in off the underside of the bar.

In other news, all is quiet on the transfer front, but Walcott’s agent claims Theo is frustrated that Arsenal have not continued contract talks started in November. He still has 18 months remaining, but it would be sad to lose another player on a free.

Arsenal 1 – 1 Liverpool: Dealing with Long Balls

On December 21, 2008December 15, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal3 Comments

Arsenal 1 – 1 Liverpool: Robin Van Persie 24, Keane 42

I have to agree with Arsene Wenger. Had Adebayor not been given a second yellow in the 62nd minute Arsenal could have won today, however, the score ended 1 – 1.

Van Persie scored a lovely first half goal, after a long pass from Nasri put him into the box, and he slotted it past Reina. Liverpool responded just before half time. They were hoofing massive high balls down the pitch the whole game, and this time it fell to Keane, being chased by Djourou and Gallas, and he put it away, not much we could do.

Cesc got injured before half-time, and it seems that he has injured his knee ligaments which is grave news, meaning Diaby replaced him after half time, and went on the wing, with Denilson in the centre.

We didn’t have any of the ball early in the second half, which suprised me, as I thought that we would push for a goal. Just when we were getting a grip on the game Adebayor was sent off. A disgraceful decision, a second yellow. The first and second for nothing almost, neither were yellow cards, and this handicapped us.

After the incident the atmosphere intensified. It was like being in Turkey, Liverpool were booed and whistled whenever they were in possession, and we fought very hard.

I was proud of the way we played in the second half, and I totally agree with Wenger’s comments, that had Ade not been sent off we could have won. There was the feeling round the stadium that we were heading for a goal. The fact that Fabregas is injured, and Ade will be suspended makes me feel that we will be fighting for 4th place this season and nothing more.

Arsenal 4 – 4 Tottenham Highlights. How did we draw?

On October 30, 2008February 15, 2011 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Video1 Comment

Click here to comment on the game..

I returned from watching the North London derby feeling a little deflated, although I have to say it was one of the most exciting Arsenal games I have seen.

There was an electric atmosphere at the Grove, Bentley was abused as you might expect, and there were plenty of goals.

Tottenham scored first, Bentley (who else?) lobbed Almunia from about 40 yards. We couldn’t get the ball down in midfield and we were all over the shop.

The goal provided the usual wake up call, and we pressed back, getting a few good opportunites, with lovely passing moves, Theo and RVP linked up well. Then came our reply on ’37 – Silvestre got a goal from a corner – Gomes got nowhere near the ball, he looked very weak at corners.

We were hoping for a quick start after half time and we got it, RVP was felled and the freekick was swung into the box for Gallas to head in, 2-1 on ’46.

Things were looking up, and we went into cruise control as Ade put Nasri’s stunning chip over the line and made it 3-1.

THIS IS WHERE WE SHOULD HAVE CLOSED THE GAME.

Spurs then went on to get a lucky goal within 3 minutes, Almunia spilled a strong shot from Huddlestone, and Bent picked it up, 3-2 on ’67.

We went back up the other end and scored straight away, Hutton gifted Ade the ball, and he set up RVP for a beautiful goal, everyone went wild, 4-2..

Eboue, Diaby and Song all came on as Theo, RVP and Nasri got a rest. We seemed to relax a little – in the 89th minute Clichy (who was fantastic all night) slipped on the ball, presenting Jenas with an open run on goal, his shot went past Almunia – 4-3.

Now panic set in, and Arsenal looked in disarray, the feeling in the crowd was that we couldn’t hold on, and it was only to true, in stoppage time Modric shot took a deflection off Silvestre, which put it onto the post, it bounced back out perfectly for the onrushing Lennon who easily put it away. The few remaining Spurs fans went mental.

Tonight was very disappointing, there were positives, Denilson had a fantastic second half, and RVP played amazingly, but our defensive mistakes cost us yet again. We were unluck, but all of their goals could have been prevented by more astute defensive work.

Interestingly, two of our goals came from centre backs today – maybe representing how much more of an attacking team we are!

In all, it was an amazing Arsenal performance, but the last 4 minutes where we lost focus cost us 3 points which we thoroughly deserved.

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Silvestre among other things against Fenerbahce

On October 21, 2008April 8, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Champions League

So, Arsenal have travelled to Istanbul to play Fenerbahce in tonights CL game. It’s always tough in Turkey, and we have a couple of new faces in the team.

Silvestre will start alongside Djourou in the centre and we may see Song or Eboue at right back again. I’m happy with the centre back pairing – Silvestre got better as the game went on against Everton, and Djourou is decent. I would prefer to see Eboue at RB, as Song doesn’t look comfortable there.

Nasri and Walcott should take the wings, as they are our best choices, both were fantastic against Everton, and hopefully it will be Diaby and Cesc in the centre. Nasri picked up a knock on Saturday but should be back.

Ade and RVP upfront sounds good to me too.

Almunia is taking the captain’s armband – Gallas, and deputy Toure both being injured.

“I am very proud, it is a great thing to wear the armband. I am a bit surprised because I am the oldest player on the pitch.

You can say that again Manuel – of course you are the oldest tonight – this is Arsenal remember?!

So we go into a game with a few key players out, and it is a hard game – playing away in Europe is very hard – I think Wenger knows that the home results put you through, but we have quality in the team, and I hope we can put a few goals past Fenerbahce tonight!

Come back after the game for the highlights – subscribe to our news feed here to make sure you don’t miss out!

Clichy’s inspiration + Rosicky & Van Persie are taking it slow

On October 15, 2008April 8, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Injuries

Morning all, first up, Clichy has been talking about an inspirational talk he had with Dennis Bergkamp, back when he was struggling with injuries and Cole was our first choice:

“I will never forget what Dennis Bergkamp told me. It was in 2005 when I was injured. I had doubts and I didn’t feel fine.

“Bergkamp is a great man that doesn’t talk a lot. One day he came to see me and asked how long it would take for me to recover. I told him I didn’t know.

“He watched Ashley Cole, who was also having a treatment, and finally said: ‘Come back soon, and if you succeed, you will get his position.’

“Dennis and Ashley are friends, but that simple sentence was so good to me. I held on, and then I recovered quickly.”

I rememeber seeing Clichy getting apperances in those days and thinking that he had a lot of promise, he was very unlucky with injuries, but it shows you how wise Bergkamp was. He could see that Clichy had the quality to play first team and his time would come. Had Cole not been a c**t and stayed in North London then it might have taken longer, but Clichy always had the talent to play for us.

In any case, he is much better than Cashley, I would say that he is now one of the most important players in the team – many attacks are based on his runs down the left. His defensive work is amazing, he has pace, and at corners he has made more goal line clearances than I can count!

Meanwhile Tomas Rosicky’s agent has rubbished the claims that he has been in hospital recently:

“What appeared in the press about Tomas being hospitalised in London is complete nonsense. Tomas, as part of his recovery scheme, visits the hospital for various therapies and the same happened last time.

“A sudden setback in his health or some headaches, as I have read about somewhere, have not happened to Tomas.

“Everything is going according to the plan. Tomas’ first comeback was rash, now we are treating the situation more carefully.

This makes sense – I don’t see why people are making such a big deal. The player has very long term problems which have been present almost his whole career. With slow and careful recovery this excellent player may be able to play again. The papers need to portray his hospital visit as an emergency to sell papers.

Robin Van Persie is another injury ridden player taking it slow:

“After my previous injury, I made the mistake at Arsenal of kicking the ball with all my force in my first training session, I will not make that mistake again. But I do feel very good. I trained hard the last couple of days and all the tests were positive.

“I have been injured a lot lately but whatever the outside world says is not important to me.

“I just want to be fit and play as many games as I can. The entire pre-season went well at Arsenal and in the league too.

“Picking up a hamstring injury can happen to any player at the moment.”

This is positive talk from RVP – a talented player who needs more games desparately. It never seems to go quite right for him – he comes back but then gets injured within a few games. Luckily his latest hamstring problem in training doesn’t seem so seriuos, and he is taking it easier so he can build up his strength first.

Good stuff about three excellent players, hopefully we can see the return of RVP and Rosicky a.s.a.p!

Robin Van Persie, Djourou and Gallas injury update

On October 13, 2008April 8, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Injuries

Robin Van Persie is hopefully now off our injury list. He injured himself during training for Holland ahead of Saturday’s 2-0 win over Iceland, apparently it was his hamstring again.

Now RVP has declared himself fit for the game on Wednesday against Norway. This is good news, it was the same international break last year where he got injured and was out for most of the season.

He has been on form this season, I hope he doesn’t play against Norway though, it will only tire him out and give him more chance of another injury, ideally as a Gooner I’d like to see him only play for Arsenal!

Anyway that’s some good news. Gallas is probably out for Saturday’s game against Everton, as is Djourou, so SIlvestre is highly likely to play, which is great. The press are trying to cast doom and gloom over the matter, but the defence, especially Gallas, haven’t been performing brilliantly so a change could work wonders. It would be nice to see how Silvestre does.

What do you think? Should Silvestre start?

Van Persie injured yet again + Keane is jealous of Arsenal’s youth system

On October 9, 2008April 8, 2010 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Injuries, Transfers

The news breaking last night was that RVP has yet again picked up a hamstring injury in training ahead of Holland’s game against Iceland. People are saying it might be 4-6 weeks before he is fit or it might be next Wednesday.

I have no idea, it was this time last year he picked up the injury that put him out all season. I have a feeling that this might happen again. RVP is plagued by injuries and like Rosicky, there seems to be no end to his problems. He has scored 5 in 6 games for us so it’s a bit of a blow, just when I thought he was getting a good run under his belt.

Apart from that, Roy Keane has been slating the Arsenal youth system, obviously with a bit of envy.

“The word on the street is they have a group of kids coming through that will be absolutely outstanding. But you go on about the kids coming through but a lot of them have been bought from other clubs, not through the academy at Arsenal. It’s the same with Chelsea.”

Keane has a motive – his main problem seems to be that because we are in the South East and have a large population within our radius we have a much larger resource base.

“We have tough battles up here in terms of signing young players and are restricted in terms of our location. You can only bring in kids from a certain radius and a lot of our radius is in the water. Any good fish out there?

Sorry Roy – it’s not our fault Sunderland is on the coast! We just stick to the rules and try to find the best quality young players we can get. How many top quality players will come through having played for one academy their whole youth?? I think this is just a case of jealousy from Roy, he wouldn’t be complaining if he was in our position!

Sunderland 1 – 1 Arsenal – Watch the highlights here

On October 4, 2008January 12, 2011 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Video3 Comments

Have Arsenal learned from the Hull game? Probably not. Were we unlucky today? Yes.

These are the answers you don’t want to hear, but I think it is true. Sunderland never really created much, but they had their chances. They kept at least 8 men behind the ball until the last ten minutes, and they managed to score a reasonably lucky goal – yet another wonder strike – which wasn’t defended against properly (click to watch).

However, Arsenal were extremely unlucky not to have scored earlier in the game, having a few good chances and RVPs goal disallowed.

We were then extremely lucky that Fabregas equalised with 90 seconds of added time remaining from RVPs corner. (Craig Gordon was completely lost).

That is how football works. I can say now that I am glad to have the point, after a hard fought wet, cold and windy away game in the North East.

Nevertheless we really can’t afford to drop points like this. I think Wenger will be extremely disappointed in the dressing room.

The main problem is – if you want to win the title, you have to beat teams like Fulham, Hull and Sunderland. Getting lucky decisions and grinding out results away from home is crucial and we aren’t doing it.

The full match highlights are here, click to watch them.

Arsenal Insider some good analysis here, he highlights Adebayor’s lack of consistency this season, and agrees with me, Arsenal haven’t learned from the Hull game.

Arsenal 4 – 0 FC Porto: Highlights

On October 1, 2008January 12, 2011 By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Champions League, Video1 Comment

Arsenal responded resoundingly to their critics tonight, outplaying Porto and winning 4 – 0 to put them top of Group G with 4 points.

To watch highlights of the whole game click here.

Match Report

Arsenal started well, although there were a few close calls early on – a badly defended corner lead to Clichy clearing off the line, and a Porto shot skimmed the bar.

Van Persie looked so much sharper than on Saturday, and he got the first goal – a lovely move, leading to him sliding in Ade’s cross. Click to watch.

Ade got the second, heading down into the ground from a corner, the ball looped over Almu and in off the underside of the bar. Click to watch.

RVP scored again in the second half, this time taking it past the Porto defender and smashing it home with a left footed drive. Click to watch.

Ade finished the scoring from a penalty after Bendtner was brought down in the box. Click to watch.

Goals: Van Persie 31, Adebayor 40, Van Persie 48, Adebayor 71 pen.

Player Analysis

We could have scored more, Bendtner, Nasri, Eboue, Walcott all spurned chances. Walcott played well, as did Nasri – I thought he added an extra dimension to our play which was much needed. Clichy was also back to his best on the left!

Eboue, Bendtner and Vela came on, Eboue didn’t contribute greatly, except by making the crowd laugh at his imitation of Ronaldo step-overs – badly.. Bendtner, who I think is excellent, wasn’t sharp at all, but still looked ok. Meanwhile Vela performed fantastically and is definetly one to watch!

Overview

All in all a good, standard Arsenal performance, Porto weren’t great, but we kept possession well and closed them down, which made it hard for them. The goals were well taken and we could have had more. In the last 10 minutes we got a little complacent but we still won 4 – 0, a clean sheet is always welcome!

One point to make is that Porto never really got going, and we were lucky that Clichy cleared their best chance off the line. They like to play attacking and keep the ball on the ground, that is our game, and we can beat anyone at that on our day. The Fulhams and Hulls of the world are teams who you need to beat to win the Premier League.

4 points now in the CL – top of Group G, so lets take this result and push on against Sunderland on Saturday – another team who will be hard to beat.