Champs League

On Thursday morning Arsenal will face toughest European title contenders, Barcelona and they will be without their captain, Cesc Fabregas. His knee injury has been a concern for us ever since he received a knock on Saturday's game against Birmingham.

We are at the advantage by playing at home. A win is a must, by at least 2-0 score line, or we will never make it at Nou Camp. It will be an uphill battle for Arsenal to keep a clean sheet especially going against a team such as Barcelona who are playing the most attractive football in Europe.

We couldn't have asked a better opponent and moment to answer those challenges thrown at us. Will we ever succeed? Or will we concede?. Very simple questions but yet too complicated for me to answer them. Honestly, it will be difficult for Arsenal to win it without ever-inspiring captain Cesc, not mentioning our mental state after conceding premier league title last week would be a large stumble block. But we need to support the team no matter what has happened.

Will I be watching? Not too sure. It's a late live broadcast so I probably going to skip it. The recent result still leave marks on me. It's really painful to see your beloved team crumbled yet again. The whole nation including media, especially those who support cash cow MU, will never let this moment go by without a single hateful comment. They will probably going to blame the coach for not having adequate qualities to become champions and having failed to add some fresh legs during winter transfer, the team withered over time.

What do I think? It's partly true that we were in the need to buy new forward especially in the absence of our main strike force, RVP and Bendtner. But we also need to take into consideration a world class forward doesn't come cheap nowadays and paying up an amount that goes up every now and then, it's too absurd for us to handle. Look at the balance book and you will be grateful for having a very careful manager like Wenger. We have to use whatever source we have, coach hasn't had a better option you know.

Arsenal players should bear responsibilities as any professional football players should do, no more no less. On Thursday morning we will see how far can Arsenal go in the future. If we can win both legs and keep a clean sheet, European title is possible. It is theirs to lose and we can't afford to see our trophy room gets the mockery once again. Good luck Gunners
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Cruel summer

World Cup won't begin until June but I have already felt its pressure. I have always been a loyal fan of England, but it is due to Beckham factor. Honestly, I don't believe England will go far in South Africa but I can never say never. Apart from being one of favorites to win the trophy, England have yet to convince me to go beyond quarter finals. Having world class players such as Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard doesn't make them the toughest nut among qualifiers. But like I said, I should never say never; in football peculiar things happen.

I looked forward to the world competition which will bring hundreds of millions people sit tightly in front of their TVs to watch every game in much of interest. But how would I do that with Becks out injured and yet another Arsenal gloomy season. This season has not offered me a thing. First, it was Beckham's horror injury and then Arsenal horrendous result a couple of days ago; I might as well pack my bags to a deserted island and stay there until the competition ends. Whoever wins it, doesn't really matter to me as long as I don't have to watch England lift the cup without Becks; how the sad story will continue to barge on me for months to come.

I have slight concern though, that this might be England cherish year by winning World champions trophy in more than 40 years. Most of the times, the unexpected claims victory; sad but true.
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Another title has gone

I am not in the mood in writing this, but I had to because someday I will remember this day as the biggest disappointment in Arsenal history. We had come so far to be in this place and somehow Arsenal players squandered the chance to be crowned as premier league champions for the first time in, I lost count to it. The last trophy we've obtained was in 2005, which also ended our magnificent season. Seasons followed had been about departures of key players and disappointment after disappointment.

Let's talk about last night match shall we?. At the beginning of the match Birmingham had threatened our defence but fortunately, newly elected CB Song formed a good partnership with his senior Sol Campbell provided good coverage for midfielders to roam forward.

Unproductive 1st half didn't end there. 2nd half gave nothing but another annoying performances from each player. Only after the introduction of Arshavin and Nasri did the team get much better in shape.

The goal came in the nick of time for Arsenal to pull through. But our joy didn't last long apparently. An own goal by Almunia gave the home side moment to cheer about. It was foolish decision by the goalkeeper to palm the ball away into his own net when he could have easily punched it elsewhere. And draw it was.

We had the chance but we blew it. The players have nothing to blame but themselves. Plenty of chances coming their way but they missed all of them, including Arshavin weak shot just before equalizer from Birmingham shattered our premier league title dream.

Chels showed characters and beat Villa with scorching result; 7-1 at home, nevertheless it showed that they are still chasing the title regardless their painful exit from European championship. What about us? Well, apart from being national mockery we are plain young guns who once again failed to sustain consistency which cost us everything from pride to title. We are no longer the side other low clubs feared of; we are just school kids who are trying to prove ourselves among professionals. Do I sound harsh to you? No offense but I say what I think it is.

We keep passing the ball when all we have to do is sneak a pass to our forwards and blast a shot. How many times we'd failed to capitalize possession and wasted them mercilessly? Too many times. We lost focus and screwed our chance to gain 3 points.

Chels and MU will face each other next week in which both of teams have possibility to drop points; Arsenal have all but assurance to stay on top if they can get full points. However, we lost our grip yesterday and let it slip once again.

Am I disappointed? No, to be honest I had this kind of premonition few hours before the match. Call me absurd or superstitious any way you want, but I have always trusted my guts. No matter how hard I tried to believe we could win, deep inside I had dark clouds over my thoughts. Nevermind, I can't change the past nor do I can make it better. We have to look forward in order to get past this which is another trophi-less season. Hopefully, the result of 09/10 would knock some senses on Wenger and start adding some qualities into our squad. Fingers crossed everybody.
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injury and our title chances

the injury list has lost one of its member, Robin Van Persie. it was reported yesterday that RVP has begun his light training and most likely will return to competitive match as early as May, the right time to play his last game of the season. apart from him, we have no one back for Birmingham match this weekend and that means we will probably stick with Silvestre and Song as our CB. Gallas is out for another 2 to 3 weeks, so there’s no chance he can make it back on time for champs league against Barcelona, while Sol will be rested to make sure he is ready for tough match in champs league.

Birmingham are no jokes. they could handle pressure playing at Stamford Bridge and earning well deserved 1-1 result. but it could have been Chelsea ugliest home game since they were ousted from champs league by Inter Milan and JT sensational scandal made it a lot worse; or is it the other way around? either way, it could have been both. anyway, Birmingham have been in moderate form and could spare us surprises if we don’t careful enough. despite making positive results in recent matches, i have huge amount of doubt over partnership between Song and Silvestre. no, i don’t doubt their talents but i am more concern with how well they will cope with Birmingham pressure; away games have never been easy, regardless team we are playing.

Bowyer’s presence can shake our defence if we don’t start to do things right.with Song move further back, i presume Diaby will take his turn patrolling in the centre alongside Denilson. unfortunately, Ramsey is out injured so we don’t have any extra man in the centre and that makes me even worried. Diaby is prone to any kind of injury and usually will take time for him to completely heal, something that i don’t fancy during important matches like this one. hopefully, he will stay injury free at least until Vermaelen and Gallas are back.

since we have already played all matches we need to play, and no other cup is tied into our schedule we are free from playing midweek matches except for champs league of course. Birmingham on the other hand, still have Blackburn to think about this Wednesday. currently, they are on 9th spot while Blackburn sit 3 places apart with 9 points of gap. for both teams, a win is a must so we get to see them knock on each other real hard. i hope Blackburn will get the 3 points at home and be able to shake Birmingham’s players out of their comfortable zone for our sake.

we are in a place where one tiny mistake can lead us down to that pitch black hole again; yet another trophy-less season. yes, Chelsea are 2 points adrift from us but they still have one game in hand and with Drogba available for selection, Chelsea could still eclipse MU and us. let’s not be worried about others’ results ,shall we? the most important thing for Arsenal is to keep winning matches both home and away. there’s no point of talking “want to win trophies” but if we don’t show the right attitude, we will never get there. the difference between winners and losers are not just plain luck, but mentality as well. play like champions, the rest is taken care of.

A win

It may not have been our best game, but the boys really put up a fight that truly win the battle. The war for title isn't over, MU have obtained 3 points to be on top and pushed aside Chelsea who collected only 1 point at home. Birmingham City aren't easy opponents to be against with, that's why I'm really worried about our defence. We will face them next week with the absence of Djorou, Vermaelen and Gallas; figure that out yourself.

There were times we were caught on sleeping at the back and allowing West Ham to try get back on the game. Fortunately, we managed to keep the lead. With Sol having his back to back matches, I'm thinking Wenger will rest his veteran CB next week and move Song further back.

Silvestre is available for selection, therefore he'll most likely partnering Song in the centre. Denilson and Diaby will stay in the CM and Fabregas just behind the striker. Nasri had a bit of uneasy movement after had been tackled by a West Ham player but no injury news so far from the coach, so I guess he's doing just fine. Walcott might start but we don't know that just yet as Rosicky is fit too, so we have to wait until Friday to see updates on injuries we're having.

We lost Vermaelen after straight red card he'd received in the first half. As suspected WH came strongly in the absence of 1 player and continuously terrorizing our defence. Sol and Song did well to cover our gaping hole at the back. After I thought would be a very anxious last minutes, we had been granted penalty. Culprit: Matthew Upson dangling hand. Calmly, the captain took it and notched it home.

It wasn't our best display, but like most people say warriors rule them all. The belief made huge difference in the team. Alright, let's do it for Ramsey boys.

My mind is elsewhere, therefore everything that's been written here sound a bit absurd and delusional; too short and incomplete.
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DB32 injured

I couldn't believe my eyes when I came across an article saying that David Beckham may have to skip WC dream after sustaining ligament injury yesterday. My heart was crushed to pieces knowing that he needs to undergo surgery in order to safe his career.

Why did it happen to him not any England player? He had a worrying injury back in 2002 just before WC and today he sustained another one with only 3 months away from WC.

Right before the moment he injured his ligament, many people had had strong believe that Becks had successfully booked a ticket to South Africa despite his golden age. Though Capello has never mentioned anything publicly, pundits are convinced Beckham's inclusion in final 23 squad member is not in doubt. However, with this new long term injury he's suffering, his chances are slim.

Last year, Beckham once again joined AC Milan for 6 month loan in order to let Capello knows he's up for the challenge. However, he fails to secure first team slot due to one reason which is Leonardo. If last season Ancelotti, Milan former coach, was more than happy to use Beckham as many games he could possibly play, Leonardo puts him more as substitute rather than starting XI. But it doesn't stop him from playing his heart out whenever he's given a chance.

It's so sad seeing a dedicated player has to experience such tragedy. If he had been injury-free, I would never had a doubt Capello would certainly put him inside the plane to South Africa this summer. This would be his last bow in the world stage as the most famous football player in the world and boy, how would it be perfect for him to say goodbye with stinging performances before the eyes of hundreds of thousand people. But sadly, it's not meant to be. I have one question in my head, why now and why him?. Life works in strange way and no one can ever undo the past.

May David Beckham ankle surgery goes smoothly and blessed with speedy recovery, amin. Gray day
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Testing

Mainly intended for testing only
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Becks sets up example for young MANU player

it has been years since i have heard a player wants to be like David Beckham. there are may be plenty more out there but bias media coverage doesn’t help my knowledge in this department. anyway, there is this boy named Tom Cleverley (his name speaks volume), who is under MANU academy and decides to be like his idol David Beckham. he said, Beckham has never had a strong pace since he was young, but he compliments his weakness by playing smart. and this boy isn’t alone to tell press how smart Beckham is. Cleerence Seedorf, his AC Milan team mate, claimed Becks is smart and a professional indeed. i love to brag further about David Beckham but it may sound like a broken record. so here are those links:

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2010/01/03/1722532/tom-cleverley-wants-to-emulate-david-beckham-at-manchester

http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/World/20100102/1417050.html

here we go

FA Cup match between Arsenal and West Ham will begin in less than 4 hours. from previous interviews we can safely say, that the coach will most probably field in young players to play away from Emirates. i can fully understand his decision which basically has been made due to our short in key players. as you’d probably notice RVP, Denilson, Bendtner, Theo Walcott, Gibbs and Clichy, Djourou will all miss the match due to injuries sustained during premier league matches as well as international. as i understand West Ham will most likely to play young players due to injuries; in this case we’re even. though we may not see fully inexperienced squad, we all know that Le Boss isn’t keen to sacrifice his experienced players to play in FA Cup but we will most likely see Rosicky on the field for the first time since he aggravated hamstring injury weeks ago. he is short in play time, therefore it will be a good chance for him to show his class today. i’m sure he’s going to wear the arm band tonight, so Mr. Rosicky hereby i stated, you will lead our boys to glory and bring happiness to our camp, thank you.

new year is here.welcome 2010

can’t believe we’re now entering a new decade of millennium. the memory of 2000 came back to me in a flash. in the previous year, which was in 1999, people were busy talking about what would happen to most of electronic devices once the year turn into 00 instead of 60,70 or 90. some predicted they would shut themselves down; the most extreme opinion was the computer would no longer be useable, therefore an upgrade would be a wise decision. well, i didn’t see that happening anyway. my cell phone worked just fine and the computer hadn’t rebooted as predicted. so far, everything followed went on smoothly, except for terrorist attacks on few places in the world of course.

anyway, i should start making new year resolution from now on. though it is not my habit to follow what others think best, i believe my blogs in agreement with some of my friends. i’m talking about shake off my laziness and write more often. i used to write about 3 to 5 posts a week, but now i can only manage to do that in a month. what has come into my mind? nothing basically, perhaps my excitement toward my blogs have gone south thus writing is more of a habit more than hobby. does that even sound relevant?

so many things happened in 2009, i can’t go into detail on each thing that both surprising as well as entertaining me in a span of 365 days. but i’ll just highlight what’s taken my attention these past days.

Arsenal have managed to hold on into their 3rd spot from being stolen by numerous clubs, including Totenham Hotspur, MC and Aston Villa and this has been done with lists of injured players. our main striker option, RVP, has rupture ligament on his ankle and his surgery will keep him out until early April, the least. our LB has caught everyone’s attention with 2 of our experienced players out injured which will keep them sidelined for another month. Theo Walcott has somehow managed to get injured again,the last one kept him for about a month, after cameo display against Aston Villa. he puzzles me indeed. Theo is a young player and at his stage of age injuries will come badly to his career. a player usually starts to flourish at the age of 20 and will eventually stop progressing when he reaches 28 or 29. after ‘growth stage’ a player will enter his mature age which could either lead to more greatness or sloppiness. in Theo’s case i believe the former, but injuries have shy him away from great potential to become one of the best footballer in the world. he’s come to Arsenal with so much promise in other words, people believing him to be the next Thierry Henry. this is sad for a player who barely reach 10 games for Arsenal half of this season. i do hope he will recover or else he’ll lose his place in the WC. i don’t blame Capello for leaving him, but it is unacceptable to have a highly rated player such as him at home while his team mates fly out to South Africa.

as some of you might have heard, David Beckham will play alongside Ronaldinho, Seedorf and other AC Milan players for 6 month ahead. he’s facing a tough battle to be in the starting XI but i believe he can make it, simply because he’s David Beckham. his dedication and work rate will prove doubters wrong. they used to mock him and tease his ability to play football,still is, but in more than 1 occasions he quashed those people away and proving to be one of the best asset a club can have. his latest performance with LA Galaxy has been the best moment for his career in MLS. the good thing about David Beckham is his confidence. unlike some other player, he rarely has a problem in this department. one headline steals the show though, MU will go against their former golden boy in champs league. and this time, it’s knock out stage which means only 1 will survive the battle as the other will go down in another yet tormenting year. MU were denied the European crown by Barca last year and if they didn’t beat AC Milan this year,it means they were denied twice and you know what? i love this notion. i know it’s far fetched but i want to see Milan and Arsenal in the final; who will win my support? i guess i’ll find out when they are there.

that sums up my overbearing blog, sorry for that, and hopefully you all had great NYE celebrations and start counting your wins instead of losses. cheers…..

a win for us

it’s been a heck of a time since i posted an entry. i couldn’t do much of writing due to my own laziness. technology is created to enable human being reach higher ground and achieve magnificent results. do i sound a bit childish and irrelevant?; perhaps to some people i write nothing but rubbish but i was actually referring to my phone. nowadays, BIS enables you to receive as well as send email from your phone. by doing so, i can easily send post via email to my BlogSpot, therefore posting is so much easier. but why there is a gap in my time line? oh, my mistake let’s move on shall we?.

okay, let’s get down to business. Arsenal matches have been surrounded  by controversies and injuries, which has not surprised me at all. a penalty claim by Liverpool which was rejected by the ref was an addition to our controversies in the earlier season. i said earlier, other times it would easily have been given but that time the ref hadn’t been able to spot the incident right away. though i could safely say that the win against Liverpool was brilliant result, i wasn’t too sure about our consistency. while most of the fans were enjoying the win and praised our young squad to have been able snatched 3 points from struggling Merseyside club, i had been nothing but cautious. it’s true i don’t make things up. after reading numerous reviews, i had this little feeling deep inside of me saying that our battle isn’t even half done.

fortunately, sorry if i used the wrong word, i had missed the match due to unavailability in local TV program. misery was all i could think of but forgive me if i say this, i was overjoyed knowing that i missed for the best reason. had i been staying up late i would have certainly missed breakfast as well as my morning routine. the result was obnoxious. a draw that certainly drew a lot of criticism and cynicism. most of the media, even Daily Mail blatantly claimed that our league title hope had washed away.

3 days after the match, the boys came out strongly and tamed Hull City at home with satisfying result; it was 3-0 to Arsenal. i won’t dig deep into each of goals and momentums but i will give my view on the match itself. 1st half was half bad and meant to be forgotten. the most remembered moment was when Nasri involved in a huge fight with 2 Hull City players, i can’t name them but they certainly Hull players, which resulted in yellow cards for both players. free kick taken by the sinner but was perfectly blocked off by strong wall outside the area. few minutes before HT, Arsenal were awarded with another free kick. it was similar to our 1st one but this time it was Denilson turn to take it. what a relief, Denilson took the lead by curling a very neat free kick into the corner of Hull’s goal. 1 up, Arsenal had plenty of hugs to share with. 2nd goal was pretty much a walk in the park. Song gave a quality pass to Diaby who was magnificently cross it to unchallenged Eduardo. 2-0 and the home fans were in singing mood again. as minutes passed by Arshavin was more and more isolated up front. none of his team mate had done their job on supplying quality passes he wish for. closing to final whistle, Diaby got his goal by adding 3rd for his team. an inch perfect pass from Arshavin met by Diaby who was calmly blasted the ball into the net, so 3-0 it was.

among the 3 goals, my favorite will be Denilson’s. he had never taken any free kick before but clearly showing great promise by netting a stunning free kick. Beckham might have been jealous if had he been on the field. perhaps, with more practice and amount of work in training he can be as good as RVP. overall, the team played a lot better than they were against Liverpool, i guess playing at home had done the trick, nevertheless we claimed a very important points. with ManU losing its grip against Fulham, Arsenal chance is wide open.

my question is: will we be able to sustain our consistency in order to regain more points we’ve lost and throw Chels out of their #1 seat?. it remains a mystery to me.

update: Chelsea slipped further after only managed to get a draw against West Ham.

Points

In football there is nothing far important than collecting 3 points. In the first few matches in this season we saw crunching goals from Arsenal. Scoring 6 goals and then 4 in the next match propelled them to top of the league. But recent injuries and fatigue have kept Arsenal off the pace to retain their no 2 spot in the league. Though they are now in 3rd, the gap between them and league leaders have significantly widened to 11 points.

Apart from injury, international duties made it hard for Wenger to keep his players in one piece. Match with Sunderland is a good example. Players were back after World Cup qualifiers and international friendlies in battered mood and ruined physical condition. And the result was easily predicted, Arsenal lost to Sunderland. One injury led to another; RVP injury during friendly with Italy wasn't the only one faced by Arsenal. Bendtner was next in the line with groin injury which so far has kept him more than 4 weeks, and recently declared by the coach himself that he might be out until early next year. The ever injury prone Rosicky and Eduardo tripled Wenger's head ache by suffering muscle injuries after a match against Chelsea 2 weeks ago. Both of our left backs are out in the contention with serious injuries which has brought a rookie in to replace both of the players.

Though Diaby and Eduardo are expected to be back today, we are still in the dark whether or not these players are going to survive horrendous matches in premier league. And for your information, Gallas, Cesc, Traore have suffered a knock from last week match against Stoke City and though they are declared fit to play this week, it is remained to be seen whether they will be injury free after big match against Liverpool on Sunday.

I disliked the idea of our players to be injury prone as was 'advertised' by some newspapers in the UK, however after so many recurring injuries haunting our certain players, I am starting to think we are indeed in bad luck for having such fragile players. I didn't say I was unhappy, but a little bit disappointed to see them go back and forth to medical room. We have so much talent but these injuries have somehow retarded our chances to become one of the greatest club in Europe.

We are going to continue our battle to win the war. All of title contenders have either lost or drawn against their respective opponents, thus Arsenal chance to closen the gap has become top priority in Wenger's agenda. With Chelsea only drew against Everton and MU had a bitter night at home with no points to gain, Arsenal should take this opportunity to regain their performance and start making loud statements by getting positive results. There's no other option but to win this match and get the full points in order to get closer to top leaders. Lose or draw will bury Arsenal's chances to become champions. Good luck my Arsenal, please don't ruin my beautiful weekend
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Beckham temptation

It's late and I'm supposed to be sleeping now but one thing has bugged me and forced to write this entry though it is now close to midnight.

England is desperate to hold WC in 2018 right In London. After few embarrassing mishaps in the beginning, FA decided to bring Beckham to South Africa in order to boost their chances in becoming the host of WC18. It was clear that few delegates and the FIFA head man himself were keen to meet Beckham face to face.

In short, these people were having a joyful time and clearly pleased with the global icon presentation of his country. No matter how sad his countrymen treat him, Beckham has always been there to offer them a hand. He has never been publicly loved by Britons after his sending off against Argentina back in 1998. Though his chance of playing in next WC is quite dim, he hasn't backed down and sincerely offered his hand in order to help his country win the votes for WC18.

What has made his effort priceless is the fact that he has personal grief to attend to but keeps his head up by making appearances for England's benefit in South Africa. His grandfather passed away later yesterday and due to be buried on Friday. He might skip WC draw in order to attend his grandfather funeral ceremony. He certainly has a big heart which might have skipped from anyone's attention. Those tabloids were quick to jab his new hairdo, but not his effort for England. He may not be the best football player around but he is certainly the most influential sport person on earth. Well done, Becks
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Stupid, again

I don't know whether I can write something coherent after last night ugly result. Once again, we looked promising in the beginning but crushing down in the end. Some people were blaming the last 2 goals to goalkeeper, Almunia who apparently had done well despite his recent hiccups. Honestly, the defence looked worrying, especially rookie Traore, but I have much more fear toward our attacking boys. At times Cesc was looking rather slow to pump his creative passes to front men, Eduardo & Arshavin and looking rather awkward in last minutes. And he wasn't the one who clearly out of tune. Eduardo was simply restless being Van Persie's deputy up front and not once his shot troubled nearly-perfect Chelsea goal keeper, Petr Cech. He was clearly unable to control the ball and most of the time out of pace to compete with JT and Carvalho.

When we look a lot closer, the main problem isn't our defence. Yes, we had certain problems handling in-form strikers, Drogba and Anelka and at times we were too lenient, but that didn't contribute to our loss yesterday. Our boys dominated really well with some entertaining play shown by them making it a lot more champions than others had thought. But whenever they were close enough to score, they eventually pass the ball back to someone else who clearly not in a position to score which in turn send it once more at someone further behind and ended at our own half; this is ridiculous.

Honeymoon was over before it had even started. I can't say further because the more I think about it the more frustrated I'm getting. In short, the coach need to buy 2 players at least in order to safeguard our chances to win any title this season. Whoever says we don't need a CF is terribly wrong. Yes, B52 will be fit come January but it doesn't mean we're guaranteed a safe place at top 4 on table. Threats are coming from every angle and most recently from out city Rivals, Totenham Hotspur. And we must keep in mind that African Cup is there and will definitely spoil our mood. Eboue, and Song won't be available and losing the latter is going to be disaster for the team and the coach himself.

The question is, will he buy?
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Fucking stupid

I know I am over the top over choosing my headline but yesterday Arsenal were nothing but bunch of kids having fun in the park with their friends from the neighborhood. We did alright during the attack but we made too many errors with our passings and this has put everything into dust including rare chance from E9 who was close enough to score but unable to find accuracy on his shot. There we were marching forward without any clear direction and obviously failed. I don't blame the coach for this mess but I wish he had seen the goal from Sunderland to overhaul his struggling side by introducing some fresh legs. Honestly, I was hoping to see some changes right after HT. Ramsey and Rosicky were a bit sore last night and should have been replaced by Walcott and Vela in the 60th minutes. Enough is enough and I am tired writing this. I am sleepy and tired from last night's flight and haven't been able to conjure up my strength no matter how much I spent on my sleep. And you, Arsenal, has made everything worse than I had predicted. Sign off
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The result: Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur

We conquered one of our archest rivals in history and claiming 3 points to stay on third in the league. Most of the fans wouldn't have thought 3 goals plus a cleansheet could've been attained from a derby. With current form, Tot have been able to slip past through Le'pool and sit comfortably on the 4th spot. But last night was the key to unlock our crisis from battering match last week.

Though we had not played very well especially in the 1st half, the home fans clearly gave Arsenal something to cheer about. Contrary to usual cheers, the fans singing their heart out till the end of the game. I have always been upset by the way Gooners behave themselves on the stadium. Yes, we have one of the most conducive atmosphere in England but it doesn't mean we should just keep quiet and relax forgetting about the team we support playing really hard on the field. Come on you Gooners, let's cheer our players from now on.

Back into the game; Arsenal came out very different on the 2nd half and really pushing hard on the other side of the field. With all that another goal was able to produce through RVP effort.

From what I heard, Keane was talking crap about Tot being in the same league as Arsenal and ready to de thrown their city rivals from 3rd spot. Well, at times it should be better if you just keep your mouth shut. I remember in the earlier season, when O'Shea was commenting on Burnley and clearly wanting to 'teach' the recently promoted side a lesson about premier league; Unfortunately for him, Burnley ended up being the winner for the match while ManU were left with nothing but their shirts and pants.

A lesson to learn indeed for everyone. Thank God our players rarely speak evil before a match starts.
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Recap

A very quick summary for the Carling cup result. Arsenal beat Le'pool 2-1 with Merida and Bendtner provided the goals for the Gunners. Overall, the young side has improved immensely especially Ramsey and Gibbs, hopefully they can give us more options in the future. Till next post
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Team

As I have mentioned before, Arsenal are taking on Le'pool at the Emirates stadium in Carling cup competition. It's matter of life and death for both teams as Le'pool are desperate to make their point by beating their nemesis away from home; whereas Arsenal are trying to make amends from Sunday's disappointment against WH and get away with victory.

I am so excited to see my favorite players are now back from injury. Both Nasri and Vela have missed out the opening season due to serious injury. Tomorrow will be their first involvement as starting players. Also make debut will be two CBs Silvestre and Senderos who have yet to make appearance in premier league especially in the starting line up; but this could be a turning point for both of them as they're struggling to break strong partnership between Vermaelen and Gallas.

Unfortunately though, Jack Wilshere and Armand Traore will not be able to make the squad due to injuries. Hopefully, losing these players will not affect our chances to win the game
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Tough nut

This Wednesday Arsenal will face Le'pool in the Carling cup quarter final. And as previous experiences, the coach will field his best young players during league cups, instead of the regular guys. Most of the fans are still nursing from the wound we had on weekend. Some say, it was worst than losing to ManU but I think it's another routine for Wenger's boys in a process we all very familiar with; it's called, learning. This is a young side which has yet to learn to retain a win. We are so used to be beaten in recent years, therefore defending seems a bit classy for us. I may sound harsh, but in reality it is a fact. 3 days before the WH match, Arsenal were slapped right in the face when AZ Alkmaar coming from behind and snatched a late equalizer enabling them to get a point at home.

Arsenal were 2 goals up before the half time and were supposedly came home with full points. And when everyone thought the game was completely over with 3 points already in the bag, their city rivals ruined the early celebration by scoring 2 goals. How could a bunch of professional players let it happen?. This time no excuse Wenger, you have to tell those boys that we're playing a TRUE football here and in order to survive, we have to be tough and precise at the same time. What makes Barcelona so fruitful in terms of producing result? Yes, they have confident and reliable midfield players. They play like a football team should be, whereas Arsenal are totally the opposite.

Defending is twice difficult compared to winning it. Have you heard World Cup champions winning the cup in two consecutive term? NO. Preserving 2 goals can't be that difficult, can it? No, it can be for Wenger's boys. I'm still gutted as well as annoyed.

What did the coach say post match? The boys are still learning, ladies and gentlemen; give them some time to adjust. Freaking mad you are coach. I'm sorry for my language but I do think this time you're wrong. It is time for you to punch those boys right in the face and give them no time to relax. It's a job they should get it done and get it right for our sake!. Diaby and Song should be benched and look to other place in order to strengthen our midfield. It looks like mine hole to me. Fix it coach, coz we have very little time.
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Messed up

I didn't write preview match because of a simple reason: I want to enjoy my weekend as much as I can. Today was supposed to be the perfect weekend for me, but instead it turned out to be a nightmare. Everything was perfect except the Arsenal match.

Few hours before it started, I watched the big Sunday game between Le'pool and ManU. I was happy with the result which could have given some breathing space for Arsenal to catch up. But instead of getting full points, we let WH equalized and with only a point in the bag. We were lucky enough not to lose any point at Fratton Park. We were obviously lack of pace and creativity in the 2nd half in which we should have gone to score more goals instead of giving opponents reasons to attack us. We looked unorganized at times with Diaby busy losing the ball rather than picking up the pieces. Both Cesc and Arshavin did not look at their best and clearly overrun by WH midfield. We were careless by letting the opponent dominate possession and ransacking our own half.

At the end of first half, we were leading by 0-2. If it had been Chelsea, the score line would have not gone downward but the opposite. Man, I crossed the line but I know I am right. Among other big clubs in premier league, our midfield is the most fragile and soft. Song and Diaby aren't true DM, therefore their involvement in the centre remains a big question. We are slow to get back and often get caught up in the counter attack, thus keeping a clean sheet is almost an impossible task.

If you're talking about chances we had plenty of them and too bad not one of them saw the daylight. Sometimes, scrappy goal is better than none. But conceding scrappy goal isn't an option. Mannone failed to clear, Cole was there to hold it. It wasn't a nice one, but enough to make thousands of Arsenal fans howling because of anger. For your information, we had the same fate against AZ Alkmaar in the mid week. Could we win trophies? Possibly, but not with this kind of attitude. Win or lose is the art of football; losing with pride isn't degrading. What we're experiencing now is downward negativity.

Song and Diaby must learn to act quick and swift to combat opponent's centre attack. They run like camels.

Both goals from WH were evidence from our own carelessness. The penalty should have been annulled since Coles was not impeded by Song. But the big debate lies on the 1st goal. Our defence was caught off guard and foolishly made a tackle right at the edge of penalty area. Free kick was harmless but the clearance was even more dangerous. Mannone should have kept the ball clear by punching it away instead of handed it over to ravenous Cole. If you think those two goals happened in a very short period of time, you're wrong. Arsenal had 45 minutes to answer it, but failed to convert any attempts into the winning goal.

If we don't start pick ourselves up, we won't be able to win anything this season and our star players might just say 'sayonara' next summer. Wenger should do something with his midfield soldiers. Get down with the boys and let them know that premiership is about pace and agility. If they don't cover their back, who's going to?. Be tough and accurate. Make sure their tackles are precise and clean. A different day, a different referee Song could have been easily sent off for his stupid tackles. And make sure they do their homeworks. Don't talk in public about wanting to win trophies, if you do very little on the field. Prove it
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