» The Gooner World

- by Abdulrehman Nazar

The King of Highbury has departed and has left Arsenal in the middle of a crisis. No superstar, just some bright prospects…. as always. This was the general feeling when Thierry Henry left Arsenal to join Spanish giants Barcelona. There was even uncertainty over the future of Wenger. David Dein had left, and many (the London newspapers) really thought Wenger was going after the end of the season. There was debate about what Arsenal would do without Henry, after all rivals regarded us as a one man team. And now that ‘one man’ had left. There was no man left, literally. What remained were a bunch of talented kids only. There was no doubt about their talent, but could they possibly fill in the void left by Henry? Some even went to the extent of counting Arsenal out of silverware contenders even before the season started. This was to be the beginning of a new era in north London. Not for Arsenal, but for their rivals Tottenham Hotspurs. A mouth watering contest for the 4th place between Arsenal and Tottenham was expected. According to many, this was the season that finally Tottenham would finish 4th and Arsenal would not qualify for the Champions League.

I wouldn’t go into the details of how we shut the mouths of all rival fans and indeed experts who thought Arsenal would be down and out of the premier league title as early as December. I would just say 'take a look back at 15th September 2007'. Tottenham 1 Arsenal 0. We are in the second half, Dimitar Berbatov gets away from Alumina, open goal, only Kolo Toure to beat, and the Ivorian comes up with a thunderous tackle. Arsenal goes on and scores 3 of the best goals in the premier league this season. “Dynamite, absolute dynamite”. Really sums up our season so far.

Even now people are betting on Manchester united to win the premier league title. Apart from Arsenal fans, no one really gives Arsenal a realistic chance. 25 games played, 13 left. Arsenal on top of the table after defeating Manchester city 1-3. United drop points at White Hart Lane. Eduardo’s finish today at the city of Manchester stadium showed everyone why Wenger went out and bought him after Henry had left. I am one of those who think even after 25 games that it is too early to predict a winner. But I am just irritated at the fact that we aren’t considered as a serious title threat. Arsenal, to be really honest, have now got only 2 daunting away trips, Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. The rest of the away games are to bottom half teams. And like Wenger said, Van Persie would be like a new signing when he returns. He is back in training and would most probably return for the game against Blackburn. With Adebayor scoring goals for fun (yeah you heard it ...Adebayor scoring goals!) and the team winning games when it matters most, I see us pushing United all the way. I am not going to predict a winner. It’s too early as I said before. But if I was to bet, I’d bet on Arsenal. Not just because I am a gooner, but because I think we have more than a decent chance of bringing the trophy to Ashburton Grove for the first time.

The F.A Cup is in the 5th round and we face Manchester United at Old Trafford. Once again, Arsenal are the underdogs. Arsenal are supposed to bow out of the F.A cup in the 5th round. But how often are we ‘supposed’ to lose a match and we end up winning it? Hasn’t that been our story this season?

There has also been much talk of Arsenal’s match up against AC Milan. Out of the possible options that we had, AC Milan may well be the worst we could have got. I don’t care how pathetic they have been in the Italian league or whether they have been knocked out of the Coppa Italia. It is their ability to rise for a UCL game that scares me the most. No team keeps a bunch of oldies. This might be a little far fetched but yeah they do play only for the Champions League. Gattuso has picked up an injury, good for us? Not at all. Not a single player would want to be injured. It’s a footballer’s worst nightmare. Being kept on the sidelines hurts, and those who play football will agree with me. Also I would prefer Arsenal facing a full strength Milan squad so that our team is really tested! A mouth watering encounter indeed. But there is no way one can say that Milan will humiliate us. No underdogs in this game I think. Arsenal has as much a chance of winning it as Milan does. I can’t see why we would not put up a fight.

Carling cup is over. The defeat in the semis doesn’t hurt at all. It is the fact that we lost to Spurs that hurts the most. Having said that, let’s not forget the performance of our CC team at Ewood Park and at Bramall lane. I am sure they make us all proud to be a gooner. There are still some 3-4 months left in the season, but to count Arsenal out of any competition would be foolish. It can go all wrong for us in a matter of a few days. We may be knocked out of the F.A cup on the 16th and Milan may add insult to injury. At the same time, it could go all right for us. We may win against United and keep a clean sheet at Ashburton against Milan! I haven’t been more excited than this in years. Certainly the coming few months would tell us a lot about this Arsenal side. It’s a three horse race for the title. And as Richard Clarke writes on arsenal.com “Many expect Wenger’s side to falter when the teams turn for home but Wenger would argue, while the horse is young, the rider has been there before”

IN ARSENE WE TRUST!

Result

Portsmouth 0 - Arsenal 0

Teams :

Portsmouth* 01 James* 04 Lauren* 23 Campbell* 15 Distin* 07 Hreidarsson* 25 Benjani* 08 Diop* 22 Hughes* 11 Muntari* 19 Kranjcar* 27 KanuSubstitutes* 31 Begovic,* 06 Traore,* 14 Taylor,* 10 Nugent,* 17 Utaka

Arsenal* 24 Almunia* 03 Sagna* 05 Toure* 10 Gallas* 22 Clichy* 27 Eboue* 16 Flamini* 04 Fabregas* 13 Hleb* 07 Rosicky* 25 AdebayorSubstitutes* 01 Lehmann,* 02 Diaby,* 08 Diarra,* 17 Song Billong,* 26 Bendtner

Reactions:

..strange that Wenger brought on Bendtner so late; oh well we drop to second and trail by one point. Lets give the Mancs that small headstart for the moment Fabregas has droppped some form; gave away the ball and just wasnt there when he got a pass from a colleague. Credit to Almunia though cuz Benjani could have won it for us and Rosicky and Gallas had good chances to win it for us. In the end neither team dominated and you could say a draw was a fair result. Was funny to see Eboue get down on his knees and plead with the ref to not give him a yellow card.Rosicky was our best player on show today...

..I got to say: we lost this game because Wenger.Since Robin got injuried the team isnt playing well only with Adebayor. Everytime Bendtner enter in the game, the team starts to play well. Just like with Tottenham, today, and another games. If he dont use Bendtner or Robin, we will lose this premier league. ..

.. if arsenal wanna be champions then we cant play the way we ave been playing...not only today but over the last 2 monthsmost of the games have been unconvincing wins...thats not how champions playmanu started slow but they have been on a good run and their wins have been convincinglast game arsenal deserved to win was reading ...after that none of the games we really deserved to winwigan, chelsea, aston villa, newcastle, middlesbrough , portsmouth..if it had been 1 or 2 games it wud b ok but these many games is not good..not the way to become champions from what i saw today the good start has gone to the heads of the players...too much praise and too many interviews in the newspapers has made them overconfidentfabregas and adebayor were really pathetic..and wenger needs to understand that ade is just not good enough to play lone striker ..we won earlier bcoz we wer lucky but we wont win everytime..and he needs to be bold to make some decisionsfabregas wasnt plahyin well..he shud have substituted him and got bendtner on earluerade needs to take his chances ..he has scored a lot i agree but he misses a lot more than those...its ok when arsenal r plyin good .hel get many chances and score a couple but like in todays game he got only 2-3 chances but wasted them...he has to be capable of taking more chances damn thats long...im really disappointed at arsenal..not only for today bt over the last couple of months ..they have become overconfident..

..Come on , the match was not that bad. Its not easy to create chances against a team like Portsmouth. You guys are speaking like Arsenal were pathetic. We created a very good chance in the final minute of the game. That chance was wasted by Rosicky. It wasnt a waste, he tried, the shot didnt miss by much. Its football, it happensCant believe you're blaming Wenger for everything. Instead of blaming Wenger you should give credit to our opponents today who played well. We are only 1 point behind Manchester United at the moment and there is still a long season to go. Portsmouth is a great team and a draw against them is easy to digest. ..

...am talkin as a neutral ... portsmouth is a very good side defensively .. and fratton park is a very tough place 2 get result.. but arsenal never luked lyk scoring... and not only arsenal i think any team wud find it hard 2 get a result against pompy so chill and luk at the next match its an easy 1 away 2 goodison..

...Today we didn't play like we were the no.1 team in the league..too much dependance on Fabregas and bad finishing by Ade and Rosicky led to this draw.

I know all are frustrated but we are all over-reacting coz Manu has taken 1 pt lead. But its still mid way down the league and you have seen from the past years how things can change towards the end. We now have a really tough game ahead and Wenger needs to put his thinking hat on and device a strategy to salvage a must win game against Everton.

Go Gunners! ..

..fatigue is no excuse, manager must know if the players are tired or sthg, he should then make some changes in the team, rosicky adebayor could have been rested giving eduardo and bendter chance, adebayor could be broght for the last 20 minutes, we have large enough squad to be able to change 2 or 3 players, i know we have difficult gmaes in the festive period as compared to man u and may be if we win our next two mathes it will be a good return out of the four games, but only thing i want is to play 2 upfront, be positive in our approach and for god sake dropping eboue out of the squad ...

..I think the best chance was the gallas chance where he just had to tap it from 3 ft. Benjani still had a lot to do after he made the run and Almunia did well to come out quickly. Arsenal created few chances but they lost because they couldnt get enough shots on target...

...think that this glut of too many matches is taking its toll on the players...... and there is a remedy for that situation....... wenger must stop being so 'economical' and frugal and bolster this squad!!!i do believe that ade should have been substituted much much earlier..... bendtner would have created a lot more problems, bayo looked listless... fatigue or not, keeping him on the pitch that long was a folly in hindsight!!!!!!!fab was looking very ordinary.... would have subbed him and had rosicky take over the middle of the park, rocket looked lively even if he scuffed a good chancewhat has bothered me is the lack of a plan b, and the reluctance to make things happen from arsene, and lemme elaborate.................... bringing on diaby on the left of the field..... was THAT OUR ANSWER?!?!?!?!?IF THAT IS THE CASE THEN WE NEED TO SERIOUSLY RE CONSIDER THE BALANCE OF THIS SQUAD!!! take a good look at our midfield , it is cluttered with central players..... no edge, no variety, walcott and eboue are playing out of position and still doing reasonably well.wenger seems to have his carling cup side and his epl side and the two shall never meet!!!it was disheartening to watch this game not for the result, but for the lack of innovation on the field, and as someone rightly mentioned, the last few matches have been verry unconvincing !!hope we get back to our winning ways!!!...


..I don't think the problem was tactics, the team is doing well under the 4-5-1 formation. The problem today was our midfield, Cesc and Hleb played poorly, they've shown no criativity and were apathetic. Rosicky was the only man in the midfield who made a good perfomance, but he missed a chance he should have not.

Adebayor made a poor game aswell, he didn't show the will he usually does, he didn't seem concentrated and couldn't control the ball well; the ball always seemed a bit too floppy on his feet.

We could have won though, 'cause Bendtner is a real match decider. I think Wenger's bigger mistake today was not to put him on the pitch earlier. He played for only few minutes and created the best chance of the match, but Rosicky failed to score.But we're just one miserable point behind, nothing's lost yet. ..

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Our performance yesterday was inept..I dont understand why Bendtner was on the bench..whenever the Dane has come on he has looked danerous...he wins most of the headers and 50-50 challenges with the defenders..i dont know what Adebayor brings to our side..he is a great finisher but he is not able to impose himself on the game...After the half time he looks totally lost and ragged running tirelessly after the ball..Lets be honest he doesnt possess the skills the likes of RVP possess..But he has done a decent job this season..

Ques: Why do we go into a game with lone striker and Hleb as CAM??..What are we so defensive??..If its against Manu or Chelsea and the likes then its understandable..otherwise we should go in with a 4-4-2 with Edurado(good for nothing, hope he proves me wrong..) on the bench and we play either Hleb or Rosickyon the left, considering Eboue on the right flank..

I dont feel the need for players this Jan but the likes of Vela and Djourou will certainly add worth to the squad..though the prospect of Toure leaving for cup of nations looks ominous , we still have decent cover on the back...Eboue should seriously consider practicing shots on target..Edurado should start..hope RVP is fit for everton..its still Christmas folks we are half way through the season and just one point behind..good times ahead...Cheers..

...Well, the inevitable has happened, and this might prompt Mr. Wenger to get some players in January...The major problem with Wenger is that he trust his kids so much that he thinks his current bunch of kids will go on to win the BPL...Wenger thinks he has a squad deep enough to sustain pressure from Manu and Chelski and the likes, but in reality he doesn't!! So time to re-think your strategy, Wenger...When was the last time we had any convincing victory?? And Manu wont be easy to catch, considering their excellent form towards the end of the past few seasons..

..@ Those who think Eboue didn't perform well

Well, I must say, pay more attention to Eboue's game. He was good in the game. Providing crosses, making good runs, tackling players.

His shooting needs to improve : Umm okay, Ill take that. But I must say he has a lot of bad luck on his side. Always misses easy chances. Once he gets his goal, he would be bursting with confidence. ..

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This result was threatening to spill over for a long time. It's been 4 or 5 games that Arsenal have won unconvincingly (don't start a Man Utd vs Arsenal by pointing Man Utd have done that too, lets stick with Arsenal for now).

It's clear that Wenger needs reinforcement, particularly with players like RvP not getting match fit quickly. He doesn't seem to have confidence in Eduardo (he wasn't even in the subs bench) and he's going to need cover for Eboue and Toure. Yes, managers don't buy for injuries but football is a funny game, we had all our CB's injured for the Milan game last season, and if Gallas gets injured, you are looking at Senderos and Gilberto as your center backs. Arsenal's problem is not physical teams anymore but teams which defend deep. Wenger will have to realise that not all teams are set to play attacking football, and with Arsenal up the table, more and more teams will play defensively by packing their midfield.

Arsene knows, but will he relent on his philosophy of signings? If he is trying to sign a player in January, he knows he'll be loathe to invest on players with potential and train them, but he'll have to pull a 'Henrik Larsson' like signing Fergie did last year. Good luck. ..

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Ade should realize what his role in the current team is...He is a striker!! For Pete's sake...He tries to be imitate Henry by coming from the left wing and tries to dribble or zip past defenders like Henry, but actually he doesn't have the skills nor the composure to accomplish it....Wearing underwear above his pants, wont make him a super-man..

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Denilson,Walcott,Eduardo,Diarra and Gilberto Gilberto - low on confidence, scrappy and not upto standards in any of his appearaces so far. Diarra - Utilty player in midfield and defence, where do you play him and for whom?Walcott - Impact player, play him for an entire match, teams figure him out easily. Could go either way, question marks on his fitness at the moment, but Wenger will not gamble. Eduardo - Wenger clearly doesn't have confidence in him.Denilson - Packs a shot, not yet ready for a tough grind like League. You can argue that you can find out only when you play them, but at the moment where even one match could put you under more and more pressure, is it worth it? ...

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