» The Gooner World

Out celebrating Tottenham’s 5-1 demolition of Arsenal on Tuesday night, the 28-year-old bragged to pals: “Kevin Keegan has approached me and they’ve offered me more money.

“I am definitely leaving Spurs. It’s all about the money. I don’t care about the final, I don’t care about the cup.”

Another match with the scums, another chance to extend the unbeaten run and another chance to chant "you will never defeat the Arsenal" .

Squad news is that Gallas is in the squad "travelling" to WHL because Toure and Song are in Africa, Dhourou is injured, Senderos broke his nose at Craven Cottage. Gilberto will feature in defense.

This is what Wenger said, “I will rotate the squad which means those that didn’t play on Saturday will play at Tottenham and after that I will complete it with first-team players. I will use William Gallas because I have no choice but Fabianski will play, Hoyte will play and the players that didn’t play against Fulham will all play. Walcott will feature as well.”

Responses


Wenger was great when he choose not to use the players on the bench last Saturday night. As we're going to have two matches this week, I think he thought the second-team players should rest a little bit more before playing Tottenham tomorrow and then Newcastle on Saturday, as both of them are crucial for our season, because a loss would definitely affect the atmosphere at the Emirates.

I'm quite sure the team that's going to play both matches will be really similar, excpet for the fact that Fabiansky might play the Carling Cup Semi-Final on Tuesday and Lehmann, the F. A. Cup 4th round on Saturday.

I guess our squad for the match against Tottenham's already decided: Fabiansky; Justin Hoyte, Gallas, Gilberto & Traore; Diaby, Denilson, Fabregas/Flamini & Randall (should we really put such pressure over his shoulders? I'd say Hleb would be better, as I don't think Rosicky should play once again after getting the flu last week); Walcott & Bendtner. I don't think Wenger should be concerned about using some of your first team stars specially because it's a derby and the moral of the team will be affected, positively or negatively, by the result of the match. He does know about it.

The starting line-up for the F. A. Cup match against Newcastle next Saturday depends on the perfomance of this team I posted above against Tottenham tomorrow.

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It is gonna be a tired TOTs facing us for sure... But I am not underestimating the chance of the kids running panic if Keane or Berbatov gets an early goal in...

I would want Gilberto for sure, as he can slow down the opposition for a period.. Bendtner and Walcott upfront is gonna get the defence busy.. That way Flamini/Denilson can hold up the midfield...Diaby also be at the wings to provide extra support on the left....as Phillepe said..Rosiscky, Eduardo, Randall, Lehmann, Sagna on bench..

On second thoughts Tots would be stretching the midfield a little upfront with Jenas and Lennon, make sense for Diaby and Bendtner to scare the defenders and sneak one on the counter.. but Diaby and Bendtner never could find each other really...

I bet on this one not for the delicate hearted....with no 4th place in sight, this is the best TOTS can give, and they would love doing it to Arsenal what they have not done in 8 years.. Its MANDATORY for Arsenal to score once..and i'd say twice if we need to clear out old debts with Chelsea... Mikel would be back for final...


2-2 for me... an away goal win..with scary last 10 mins...

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It is the best chance for the Spuds to finally get that win. And I'm sure that would be a great relief for them and fans would try to spin that, but in the end, it's the Carling Cup. This would be as much a development game for the youth who do play as the final last year. It's going to be a tough tough game. Not over optimistic about it either. No prediction, just give 'em hell boys.

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i expect a strong Arsenal squad. Arsene knows the Arsenal faithful wont take a loss to the spuds, irrespective of which competition it is , lightly.

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It's a strong squad. Wenger has made his intentions clear by selecting Cesc, Hleb and Bayo. Expect a fast paced game and a win (again) in WHL.


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I guess they'll need it. Berbatov has come out and said it's Tottenham's "Match of the Year". Wow. Talk about boiling your season down to a CC semi final! They aren't even out of the FA or UEFA cups yet and the season is already hinging on this game.

Confidence boy, confidence.

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If they manage anything against us I fully expect them to come out with special edition DVD's of the greatest achievement of the millennium.....and expect their fans to gobble it up like crazy.

The team selection by Arsene is excellent tactical stuff. Including Adebayor who loves to score and against them and Cesc who scored at WHL will surely be a little morale damaging for them.

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If Arsenal wins today I'll take a picture wearing Arsenal's jersey and scarf in Tottenham Court Road Station tomorrow.

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Two nil down, not looking good.

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Nope, havent created a lot of chances either. Havent seen Gilberto do much and Hoyte is looking shaky under pressure. DIaby is holding the ball for too damn long. He seems to studying some wrong winger's tapes.

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4-0 up. Worst day of my life, the CL final was better. Ya ya, it is just a CC match, but the scoreline is embarrassing to say the least.

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And against the Scum..makes it even worse.

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4-1 is there a comeback? X

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Are you feeling
Are you feeling
Are you feeling
PROUD......
Are you feeling proud.

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For the first time in my life I'm speechless. I really don't know what we have done to be beaten - and what's even worse, by five-one.

I have to admit we played like children tonight. Of course I know that, in fact, our players are young, but I really don't think you need to be an adult to play like one. Despite of the age, every single footballer who joins such a big club like Arsenal is supposed to play with responsability, commitment and, most importantly, love for the club he plays for. Why am I saying such a thing? Quite simple. The players must remember that they are playing for millions and millions of people all around the world. I'm not saying that we lack committed players, not at all. This is just a small list that I do think it's necessary for a player, because I do want them to know that their perfomance today made lots of fans feel really bad. This match wasn't a Champions League final neither a Premier League crucial match, but this match was against Tottenham Hotspurs, our biggest rival. No matter what is the trophie we are playing for, we just can't stand being defeated by Spurs.

I just couldn't understand why Ramos did affirm tonight match would be their most important game of the season. But now that the match is already finished I can say that I just shouldn't have expected anything better from a small team. Anyway, congratulations, then, Spurs! You've just won your season! Congratulations, Juande Ramos, for such achievement. Now you can celebrate Spurs' happiest moment in the decade - but where's your trophie, anyway? Your most important game of the season has just ended so now I think you're done. This is how a small and loser team thinks. They're just not able to fight for bigger titles, big achievements, so that's why they're all so happy. There's nothing more exciting for a Tottenham fan than beating Arsenal, because they do now it's the best they can do. So I'm afraid a ten-year-old Spur is happy for the first time in his life, finally.

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Now it's time to face our problems. Diaby and Gilberto were, once again, poor. Being crucial players I don't think they should have perfomanced that way. But I'm afraid I won't blame anyone today as even our captain didn't have a great time tonight. I prefer to say in the plural, direct to the whole team. A night to forget. Despite of the presence of Fabregas, Hleb and Adebayor we couldn't get the ideal pace. And what makes me really, really upset is that after our poor match against Birmingham, Wenger did affirm we would not lose our focus again. And unfortunately, I must admit we were everything but focused tonight. And that's the point. I spent the whole week saying that today's match would be crucial for the season, for our squad and for the fans. Now our self-confidence is really damaged and I really don't know what Wenger will do on Saturday. The boys who were beaten by five-one today are supposed to play Newcastle in only four days. Can you imagine what would happen to the atmosphere at the Emirates if we were beaten once again?

Now we are going to see how focused our team really is. Only great players can forget the past and be exclusively focused on the next match, and this is what a team that's fighting for the Premier League trophie should do.

I would rather feel humiliated if I were celebrating the first victory over my biggest rival in ten years than by being beaten only for the third time in the season.

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Crap display.

We have ridiculed Scums for a long long long time now and a defeat against them in CC is nothing significant but the manner which we lost was bad. There was never a day my wife and I would have cursed the TV sooo much.

I am planning to skip reading some articles for a little team because the press would be delighted. After all Scum beating us to 4th place was a fantastic creation and they would take any opportunity to vindicate their stand. I hope Wenger keeps the team insulated from the press as well.

Fabianski is quality but his positioning was hugely suspect. Some goals could have been easily avoided. Don't want to criticize Bendtner coz he got us all 3 in the prem but he'll find 1st team chances reduced till he gets his head straight.

End of it all we are in three competition - the FA, Prem and CL and the Scums could enjoy the stay in the lower half. I think Diaby looked most disappointed after the game, probably he was kicking himself a chance to kick Terry's head again.


P.S: My big concern: Theo - 5 goals in 2 1/2 years and another crappy display and Diaby - can't play on the left (Made Gilberto look ok relatively).

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It was coming and we could see that... This is Spurs moment of the season... I would say it was a different spuds than what we saw last 3 years... They took the lead as usual and decided we will just not sit and hang to it..but double it.
To make matters worse we had a defence which had no clue which is the zone to mark and who will do it... Hoyte never made a clearence or an interception.. I guess Gilberto would have been better there, with Flamini and Denilson ahead.. Gilberto was never his attacking self or defensive self..showing that he was missing the action for longer than he can remember...

Bendtner should try hard to forget the day... Somebody send Walcott back to school so that he can grow up.. he has pace and control coming together with a lag of 10 seconds... As they say it was like plucking the candy from a kid..

The worst player of yday imho was Diaby. He was extremely slow, never fought back for the ball...and wouldnt pass with urgency.. 2-0 down at HT and there were good chances to bring back the game to life.. but this man wouldnt keep pace with time.. Oh Fabianski was at the wrong end this this time... I dont think he could have done better to put out any..but could have been slightly more enthusiastic in organising the defence during freekicks and corners..

its CC... i would be even more pained if Chelsea were to go through tonite

Why do I miss Rosiscky in the matches we lose points????? Hleb was tired, So was Faby.... I hope we'd be focussed to put this result behind and get ahead with the Fk.All cup... Keegan would want a good result for himself like

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As I was out of my mind yesterday night, let me correct myself today. More specifically the last phrase of my post. Here's the right one I should've posted:

''Humiliation for me would be celebrate my first victory over my biggest rival in a decade, and not being defeated only for the third time in the season.''

Sorry for the mistake.

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An unflattering score line and we see the doomsday pundits blabbering away to glory everywhere...

Principally, the reason why I chose to unjoin the main Arsenal community.

Not that I blame them. I realize that yesterday's performance by Spurs was indeed worthy of the scoreline and a much awaited win for them.

I am sure that the players and most of all, Wenger must have been disappointed. A loss against Spurs after such a long unbeaten run is something that needs to be mourned, that is for sure.

Today, I was speaking to a Man Utd. fan and he made a very valid point which I wold like to share with detractors of Arsene's youth policy [not that I feel that there are any in this particular community. Its just that I want to voice my feelings]

(quote)... people forget that we played Ronaldo for 2 x 38 matches although he was not playing well and not scoring ... (unquote)

That ought to silence critics of Walcott. We all agree that the quality is there, but the confidence is lacking. In the case of Bendtner, I believe he can do with a bit of talking to by his seniors. Again, attitude not quality is the problem. For me, Adebayor is the ideal these youngsters should look up to. I profess to have disliked Adebayor at the start of his career. But he has shown tremendous improvement and has earned my respect. So much so, that I am glad Togo did not qualify for the African Nations cup.

There is a lot to look forward to, including the BPL, CL and FA. One poor performance should not raise concerns as I hope the team is capable enough to bounce back with a vengeance. Hopefully, Newcastle will bear the brunt of the wounded Gunners.

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Nine years. 21 games. Had to happen sometime. In a way, it's good that the pressure of maintaining the unbeaten record against the scum has ended. We'll play freely against them next time, no worries.

We'll bounce back, hopefully soon. "King" Kev had better watch out.

The Season from start till now has been absolute brilliant..Lets take a walk down the memory lane, shall we ?

Scenario :We Gooners, certainly didnt see things going in our favour in the Summer Transfer Window..Henry, the Talismanic figure of the club who was thought of a player who will take his Young team mates to another level leaves the club in the most dramatic of ways.. He leaves behind a team thought incapable of performing at the highest level.. Word on the street was Arsene will certainly try to fill the void of the most productive Striker for Arsenal with someone equalling Henry's skills..Each Arsenal fan waited for the MasterStroke..Some thought Frenchman for Frenchman Trezeguet will be heading for Arsenal..Rumours of Palacio coming to the club..but in comes a complete stranger.. Eduardo..The Croatian striker has spellbinding figures (as in Goal tally and appearances) for his club and country but still is dubbed incapable of filling Henry's boots.. Arsene reveals that he has no intentions of buying a Big Star to fill the void left by Henry..but still I and alongwith me (I am quite sure) many Gooners were expecting the unexpected.. And the days turned into weeks and in the last stages of Transfer Window the Clairvoyant Wenger seized on the opportunity and in came another Blues' asset..Diarra alongwith a versatile defender Bacary Sagna who formerly played for a French Club Auxerre ! Unexpected signings yet again.. Behind the scenes noises were being heard of lack of ambition from our Professor's side.. 'Kids cant win' like situation seems to take firm ground in the Arsenal camp.. And somehow time passed and the stage came.. What Arsene and Arsenal was preparing for all the summer... The English Premier League commences..



The Beginning :60 seconds into a new season and thanks to a howler by Jens Lehmann, we concede..Is our team still in transition..? Will we be waiting for yet another season to see the team blossom ? Different Line-up from the last season..Still same story..Arsenal now faced the challenges they have coped various times down the lane last season..Nostalgia of having the Invincibles back ! Another 90-minute time period where we might not have any nails spared to be bitten ..! Calm down..almost 90 minutes of the game is left..But thats something I've said numerous times last season and consequently Arsenal finished 4th in a 5 horse race ! Nothing seemed to happen.. For God's sake get a goal from somewhere ! PLEASE.. But I was convinced that there was no player in the team who could make things happen..There was not a single player in the team who could take the ball from the Half Way line and bury it into the net..Aargh there was no Henry ...! 45 minutes of struggle and still no sign of that Individual Brilliance.. Whatever Wenger had to do with the teams, he had no more than 10 minutes to convince the team that they are out to prove a point.. Start of second half and after about 10 minutes introduction of fresh legs..Theo Walcott on for Eboue..For all the struggle it just never looked like it was Arsenal's day..still me with my dire was still watching the game hoping for a wonder.. And then it happened..Something that took me by surprise ! A propelling run from the man who is absolute rock solid at the back..Kolo Toure's blistering run..cuts past one..gets better of the second..in the box..is that a foot from the Fulham player ? oh YES..Its a penalty ! That happened so quickly I hardly had time to realize that this was what I expected in the First Half..That Flair..Individual Brilliance ! Who is going to take the spot kick ? Henry aint around ...!!


With my eyes closed..I waited for the moment..and then a surge of exclaim..I opened my eyes to see the scoreline saying 1-1 !! Game is on..Somewhere deep my heart tells me this is going to be Arsenal's day afterall.. 6 minutes to end of normal time..and seems like time's flying..C'mon Gunners beat the clock.. And just as seem things to calm down again Hleb;a player who had his share of stick from the fans emerges to tuck in the vital goal that arouse all the fans round the Emirates..The ComeBack Kings are back...!

A Gooner's take on the game :Along with a few heart attacks of course. But we won, and that's the most important thing.


Life From Then On :
Still doubts on the capability of the Strike Force..and for a No.1 German Keeper such blunder puts on him a Big Question Mark.. Lets hope it was just a rare mistake and wont happen again.. We prepare for the Blackburn game.. Odds suggest that it will be a tough encounter..Arsenal away and that too against a physical team having a player named Savage..well..the name says it all then..The clock starts ticking.. All going good in the first half..Arsenal get infront..and seems like hallucinations of Arsenal not being capable of playing their usual football against a Physical side seems to disappear in thin air..Though Blackburn were dominating the game nothing overshadowed the fact that we were ahead until Lehmann YET AGAIN muffed a simple shot.. and sadly Arsenal had to come home sharing one point each with a team who they nearly beat only for the Lehmann's mistake to put a twist in the tale.. All the setbacks of the game started to rotate in my head..Unusual display from the Arsenal midfield..No dominance..Lacking Team chemistry..Not enough chances created..No big threats on set pieces..Ineffective Counter Attacks.. Goalie between the posts seems like he is still
learning how to catch a ball..After such an unexpected (in a good way) start to the season and then suddenly a gloomy performance from the Young Guns, the probabilities of Arsenal giving it a-fight-till-the-end remained inconclusive..Not a start I would've liked to witness from a team who went unbeaten in a whole season sometime back(it still looks like all happened yesterday)..

A Gooner's take on the game :

It looked to be an even game today but we never should have conceded the goal the way we did. Lehmann is at it again!


Upnext are ManCity.. a team with a new manager..A manager known for his defensive tactics..his team having in goal, son of Legendary Peter Schmeichel.. Certainly the fixture wasnt a piece of cake and Arsenal's recent form wasnt doing any favours either..Anyhow with same hope and faith we all expected Arsenal to perform top notch! 70 minutes into the game and scoreline reads 0-0 ! At home, Arsenal are being held back by a Defensive Citeh side.. C'mon..Not again..Why do we have to wait for the last 10 nervous minutes to see if Arsenal can win it ! But we dont have a choice.. with the ball is the Young Spaniard..Its the perfect time to get a goal..But not the best of the places where you want to shoot from..He still takes his chance and pulls the trigger.. Result ?? Well you get to see a Young Arsenal player pumped up and his face says it all..Bring It On..We are ready to Gunn You down..Once again (I really have lost count of how many times I've said that but here it goes again) 'Arsenal get a late winner' to ensure that they are still capable of challenging for the title.. Hopes of this year being finally Arsenal's resurafaced again !

A Gooner's take on the game :

the min we get cesc,rosicky and hleb in the midfiled we create 20+ chances a game...u can see that in any game....just need some1 to put 2-3 of them away....hopefully betwee ade,rvp and dudu they can!


It was Pompey's turn to be on the receiving end..Thats what was on everyone's mind; such was the atmosphere in the Arsenal camp..They are starting to believe in themselves..This time Arsenal team didnt keep the crowd waiting..Straight ahead on the scoresheet was Adebayor's name with 8 minutes gone...The Dynamic Midfield of Arsenal were creating chance with every pass..To the joy of the Gooners 'The-Next-Big-Thing' Cesc Fabregas scored..and from then on it was easy..Tomas Rosicky did the icing on the cake by scoring his first in the campaign..A former Arsenal striker and in form Kanu without having an idea where the ball was, put it in to the back of the net.. Strangest goal..3-1 to Arsenal..Having Sagna, Eboue, Gallas, Lehmann and Hleb out and still coming out with a victory having such an impressive scoreline;indicates of good signs.

A Gooner's take on the game :

Arsenal celebrations are getting weirder as the days go by. First there was that uncomfortably long hug after Eduardo's first goal..And yesterday what did Ade do to Rosicky. lift him by the feet and turn him over. lolz


Perfect setting for the Local Derby match..We face Spuds still unbeaten ..and nothing would convince me that it wont be the fact after the match is over !Gareth Bale was the only one amongst the Spuds' team who looked talented ! And he surely wasnt there to make the numbers.. He scored on 15th minute with a well placed freekick..And then it was all one way traffic and it doesnt take a genius to realize which way it was ! Adebayor still had a lot of censure to handle..and he certainly made the traps shut after he took advantage of his height and scored on a set piece..You heard me alright..ON A SET PIECE ! Levelled again..but Arsenal always go for the kill..and so did Fabregas..another piledriver from quite some range and had Superman been there between the posts; he surely couldnt keep it out ! And right on the 90 minute mark an exotic Drogba like volley from Adebayor crashes all hopes of Shite to beat Arsenal..

A Gooner's take on the game :Match ending couldn't be more sweeter. Bayo the man, with a "take that you Spuds" in the last minute. Absolute beauty by Bayo. Loved it. His scoring streak continue's to piss off Spuds.

A struggling Derby side fixture couldnt come at a sweeter time !Winning three games in a row..Surely one would expect Arsenal to thrash Derby ! Thats what they actually did..5-0 sends out a clear message to the rivals to watch out for the Blazing Guns ! Adebayor scores a hattrick.. 5 goals in 2 games.. We are on top of the world !

A Gooner's take on the game :

Arsenal are back to where they belong..At top of the table


Wow..Its been a rollercoaster ride till now ! A season who has yielded in such controversies and drama uptill now..and now we face a team that was able to do a double over Arsenal and Manutd last season ! A great achievement for a team who just avoided relegation..You guessed it right..West Ham..A team which in Ljungberg's opinion had more ambition than Arsenal..the plan to move on backfired eh ?anyway..there aint much to discuss from this particular match..Arsenal got three points thanks to a 13 minute goal from Van Persie..Last season goals were hardly coming..and this year its been absolute other way round..Not a single game yet where Arsenal failed to score..

A Gooner's take on the game :

I've to admit Arsenal didn't have a brilliant match. Fabregas was well marked. Adebayor missed uncoutable chances of goals, we really should have scored more. Anyway, I do think Senderos had a great match, as well as Diaby.

Next Game : Arsenal 3-2 Sunderland

Van Persie seems to get the spot light this time..Had it not been for Persie's 80 minute winner(another late winner ? Gosh..you got to be kidding me !) Arsenal would be heading for an unexpected draw !

A Gooner's take on the game :
WHAT A MATCH!!! We could have scored atleast 7 goals!! Brilliant play by our forwards. Unfortunately, we were a bit sloppy at the back. Especially the first goal, which was either extremely brilliant play by Jones or bad defending by Clichy (the latter according to me).

Arsenal 2-0 Bolton

The bogey team isnt a bogey team anymore !What made the match memorable is Kolo's goal..Time and time again you see him trying to hit the free kick like a bit like Roberto Carlos but never succeeded well this time he did just at the perfect time when the goal wasnt coming from anywhere ..!

A Gooner's take on the game :Wow .. A toure piledriver

Next two matches can change the course of how the league table looks..Liverpool came out strong and hard..Gerrard couldnt be kept quiet for long and strikes with a great free kick..No chance for Almunia.. Liverpool seemed to close down the Arsenal midfielders way too quickly that unsettled the flow of the game..Fabregas was kept shut for most part of the game by Alonso until catastrophe hit the Liverpool team when Xabi was subsituted due to injury.. and Xabi's departure from the field turned out to be a blessing..Hleb's perfectly waited ball found Cesc who just had to beat keeper to draw Arsenal level..Calmly finished..An exciting game comes to an end with both teams sharing points !

A Gooner's take on the game :

What an excellent game for Arsenal! Its a pity we did not put at least 2 more of those in, surely the scoreline would have been lot better.


And now comes the main event..What every Gooner waits for every season.. Arsenal vs Manchester United at our own Fortress.. Something tells me this is going to be one hell of a match..Wasnt proved wrong..Gallas own goal proved to be a lucky break through for Red Devils..Cescy stole limelight after he mimics of Anderson crying and pumping rants at Rio.. Scored the first goal..Cool finish..Arsenal back on level term.. Ronaldo inspite of being the invisible man for the larger part of the match scores 8 minutes before the end of normal time..And they thought it was ever..The match was sealed..But its not over until its really over..Memories of Henry heading the ball home should've hunted the Red Devils the whole summer..Well its going to be replaced by the current captain's great finish from a tight angle..Gallas brings them level..Not a very assuring result but hey we are still unbeaten !

A Gooner's take on the game :

Wenger's Arsenal cost less than half of United's. In basic economic verse? If I invest £150k on a top of the range Ferrari Marinello, I would never expect to finish neck-and-neck with a Skoda Octavia. I should be breezing it every time. In the event I did finish neck-and-neck with it the last thing I would be doing is searching for excuses.

In the next three games Arsenal won ..Scores being :
Reading 1-3 Arsenal
Arsenal 2-0 Wigan
Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal

Still going strong ? I bet they will faze out in the month of December..thats what Mancs were thinking..It seemed to be true..Every word of it..When Arsenal drew to Newcastle and were beaten by Middlesbrough..Alas the unbeaten streak ended..Mancs reaction : See now they will stumble after a fumble..Well not everytime you see results going your way..


So Chelsea it was..The match tipped to decide League Leaders at the end of this year..Arsenal were prepared for the competition..Cole and Gallas playing against the former club..and when Gallas got his head ahead of Tal Ben Haim and the ball went into the net..it became evident as to which club got the better deal ! It was the Captain Fantastic's contribution that was enough to seal the three points..Cole had been going overboard lately with his derogatory remarks about the Arsenal camp..well Cesc's hack on him certainly proved that 'Action speaks louder than words' ! And with the final whistle every Arsenal player went to the crowd and took a bow

A Gooner's take on the game :

I must admit, Cesc is on a "hunt the c**t" campaign. Lampard (CC final), Terry (yelling & pushing), Cashley (tackle), Rio (f*** off), Anderson (mocking), Repka (tackle) ... is the list complete or am i missing someone? Anyway, still enough of the c**ts. Well done Cesc.


Will it be a December To Remember ? Well time will tell..

Arsenal entertain Tottenham at Emirates next..and Adebayor seems to have a habit of scoring against the Shites'! Second half and Berba shows his class by blazing the ball into the net from an acute angle..Seemed like Almunia's mistake..He redeemed his previous mistake by saving a penalty poorly placed by Robbie Keane..76th minutes..its a corner..At the sidelines Bendtner tells the coach if he gets on the field he'll get a goal for Arsenal..Professor decides to put him on..Corner taken..Huddlestone who was marking Bendtner was stopped in the way by Adebayor(unintentionally) and Bendtner gets his header on the ball..as soon as he touches the ball he knows where its going..into the BACK OF THE NET.. The Danish striker's first touch on the ball since coming on results in a goal for Arsenal..Still on pretty top of things, Arsenal.

A Gooner's take on the game :
I was watching the match with 5 of my mates and when Bendtner came on i said he'll score and he did he did... Oh my Gooood GOD !!! Wat a goal what a header... Bendtner you beauty !!

A goalless draw against Pompey in the next fixture and that too on Boxing Day doomed all hopes of topping the league atleast till this year ends..A sad day for every Gooner..Looks like Santa was not an Arsenal fan !

A Gooner's take on the match :

Pompey were happy to sit back but this is no excuse. As i said before the match, it was the game where we needed to grind out result. Rosicky and Gallas should've finished off the chances. We needed to finish the rare chances.


The lights at the end of the tunnel seemed to have faded away..What started as a great year(season actually) for Arsenal wasnt going to end that way..No fair..We could all hope and pray that somehow West Ham can do it again..Without Tevez beating Manutd was looking more of a joke..After the match got over, Fergie's reaction said it all :

"We were beaten by a better team I think," Ferguson told Sky Sports. "I don't think we measured up to our normal performance.



So it was upto Arsenal, the same Arsenal which was predicted to finish 5th behind Spuds' to end the year on a high note ! But away to Everton doesnt look an easy fixture afterall..Everyone had his moment..Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Diaby, Clichy, Rosicky, Hleb, Flamini, Fabregas, Van Persie, Adebayor and even Bendtner..who remained was a player thought to replace Henry, Eduardo.. A player Manc tipped as Francis Jeffers II..He still has to prove his point..and he gets the start he wants..But not the best of starts by Arsenal when they conceded early thanks to a defensive mix up..Cahill gets the goal somehow..Something keep telling me its not going to be Arsenal's day..I kept pushing that feeling aside..1 nil to Everton at Half Time..C'mon Wenger..Put some pearls of wisdom into your young team.. Get them motivated..Give them a reason to fight..Second half starts and from no where Eduardo gets a crucial goal for his team..Aah..Level on points..but still second..No good..Push for second !!We can do this thing.. Another break and out of nowhere(once again) you see Eduardo calmly finishing..1-2..Thats more like it !! Everton wont give up without giving it a try..Temper running high..on a rainy night with such chilling breeze, the severity of the flair on the pitch was in contention with the weather ! Eduardo was subsituted..He didnt seem too happy with the change..I shared his feelings..But Wenger Knows..On comes Adebayor..And right away thanks to his persistence of chasing a lost ball he gets in between Yobo and Howard and somehow gets the touch on the ball which takes it away from both the player and scoreline now reads 1-3 ! Indeed Arsene Knows ! Mancs hoping all went in vain when Rosicky did the icing on the cake by getting the 4th for Arsenal..Final Score 1-4 ..

Most of us limited Eduardo as a fox in the box kind of player..Well he has proved most of us wrong..he is more of a complete team player..Cescy's spirit after he was subsituted said it all :

WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS BABY !!!!!!!!!


So Arsenal finish ahead of Manutd and will remain there until the 1st January (atleast).. Looking back at the season..one word comes into my mind..RollerCoaster !

These are my picks of the season so far :

*Toure runs from half way mark..Dodges two defenders gets into the box..earns Arsenal a penalty..Talk about Individual Brilliance

*Cesc's pile driver against Spuds that got us the lead and drained all the hopes of Spuds' fans..

*Theo becoming the Youngest Player To Score in UCL..Rooney Who ?

*Adebayor's HatTrick against Derby..what a way to answer some of the critics..

*Gallas' equaliser in the last minute against Manutd..All the more reasons that Fergie backing the idea of 'Last 10 minutes should hold no credibility'..

*Arsenal thrashing Slavia 7-0..Seven's Heaven !

*Fabregas mocking the cry-face Anderson..

*The (in)Famous Finger Lady Incident

*Gallas scoring against his former club..The message is clear..The Arsenal got better rewards for the Swap Deal ..!

Again, the Spurs in the CC and no Baptista this time :( The biggest news is that Persie is fit and will probably start. Walcott is also back. Seems like everyone was getting ready for this one lol. A win is my prediction, and it is the SPurs, it will be a crime to predict anything else


... We still have Hoyte, who created the goal last time around ! Hope he does it again !..

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Well the biggest surprise is Diarras supposed omission, sad to see his arsenal career end before it even started. ...

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Gilberto was the worse player on pitch...Berbatov's vision and skill gave Arsenal a hard time all night long... Theo and Bendtner were good along with Fabianski who made some really good saves and made some crucial decisions he is good i like him... ..

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It seems Diarra was included in the squad but the moany bitch he is decided to fuck off. not too worried with that situation. every Arsenal jersey would have been embarrassed with the performance against a hated neighbor but once the heat passed its understandable a 2nd string managed a draw against a charged up scums.

I have been a huge fan of Gilberto from the time he came to Arsenal. He's done a terrific service to the club and given us a lot of moments to cherish. But sadly age is getting better of him. He may have provided more passes to scums than their entire mf put together and you could just feel the agony being gilberto then. He doesn't like it but can't seem to do better. Though I would like to see him end his career at arsenal it just doesn't look likely. Another player who was a complete liability is diaby. The only positive in Diaby was to leave Traore completely exposed (not one but a few games they played and should improve his abilities a lot more). what a nice free kick by traore from such a deadly position :P

I think the goal was all due to Senderos not playing the off side properly. He drifted on allowing them to have a go and finish. Second half was positive with the introduction of Sagna(what a good player he is) and shifting Hoyte to his pref. central role. A lot of Sendy mistakes were corrected by Hoyte and Sagna was good going forward. Eduardo looks as sharp as ever and Bendtner was ok'ish. Walcott scored a goal but did nothing really. (Mark Randall looked more composed after the sub :P)

Its been sometime we put a dominating performance now. Its time to set things straight. There was no MF yesterday and the long ball thing was overdone. Lets just hope Arsenal get back to passing and moving the ball around.
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I don't remember when was the last time I said more bad words to the Scums than yesterday. And, curiously, they were right. Tottenham's supporters dominated the atmosphere at the Emirates, singing and putting even more pressure on Arsenal's young players. The reason? Quite simple, they did play really, really better.

The point is Arsenal didn't really deserve to win. Despite of the fact that I was keen on celebrating my first Arsenal goal at Emirates, Tottenham could've defeated us if Theo wasn't so lucky.

Senderos had one more poor perfomance. Wenger should do something quickly as Toure is out for the Africa Cup of Nations - but not that quickly because he (thanks God) got injured. Denilson's long balls were a disaster. That was what he did last night during the whole game. I was excited about seeing van Persie playing, but he actually almost didn't touch the ball - hats off to Tottenham defenders, because even Eduardo and Bendtner hadn't great chances as well.

Hats off to Berbatov. What a brilliant player he is. On the television we are used to see he only when he gets the ball, but as I had a complete vision of the pitch yesterday, I could see why Wenger praises the striker. The bulgarian acts like a captain, a key player - what he, in fact, really is.

I don't really agree with Wenger when he decides to use the younger team for the Carling Cup and the F. A. Cup matches. As we already are on the semi-finals against our detestable rival, and our club do need more titles, I think he should've used more players from our main squad.
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It would be unfair on the young lads to take the team to the semi final and then the big boys takeover to finish it off. Carling Cup has always been a proving ground for all the Arsenal youngsters, and I really salute Wenger for that. Imagine a 17 year old playing in a CC final at Wembley in front of a 90K audience. He would have dreamt of it all of his life.

Sentiments aside, the CC is not really a cup whose worth is equal to the Premiership or the FA cup. Winning the CC with a first team is not something any team can boast of, but if the same is done by a reserve or a second team, it is an achievement. See Chelsea last time? Their value of the squad on pitch in the final was much more than the prize money earned by winning the cup, and a CC in the showcase? Not very appealing eh?
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I don't care what team Arsene puts out in the final (if we get there) but what I know is fans don't take any defeat against Scums very well, if we do get knocked out by Scums there'll be some major uproar at Islington and folks from other parts of the world who have been a part of the club for long time. ..

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I don't know if your reply was for my post. If it was, then I would like to clarify that mine was a reply to the last paragraph of Felipe's post. I can't imagine a loss to the Spurs, and I also cannot imagine the first team taking over after the kids have done all the dirty work. Hope this clarifies. ..


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What I tried to mean is that the coming match against Tottenham will be a key one. Firstly because it's against our main rivals, that haven't beaten us since 99; secondly because being defeated to them at this moment of the semester would be a shame for the atmosphere at the Emirates, our moral must be the highest so we can keep doing our great job and win trophies.

I totally agree when you say Wenger should gives the youngers a chance, and I do think, as well as you, that these matches are really crucial for the development of such young players. Anyway, I still think it's risky to puts lots of pressure on the reserve squad specially at White Hart Lane, when what we need at the moment is just self-confidence, specially due to the fact I could see many fans saying bad words for the squad that played last wednesday night at the Emirates.

I know it's a very tough decision the boss must take, but I'll be at his side - ever...

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We are not talking about a first team taking over from the point young guns left off, we are talking about a few first teamer's in the mix with the rest of the youngsters. CC for Arsenal has always been for the likes of Lupoli's, Baptista's, Bendtner's, etc. But last time Arsenal used Adebayor and Rosicky in the CC SF and Cesc, Adebayor, Toure in the final. So the call is justified and we've seen it before too. And if Arsene puts the same team I don't see us going through.

This is what Gilberto has to say of Diarra

"It's difficult to understand for young players," said Gilberto, referring to Diarra. "It's not easy to manage the situation when it doesn't work out how they want. For some people it's quite hard."
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I dont think it will be that bad on the youngsters to add some bite to the CC team that played in the first leg. Eduardo to start up front he has been with the CC team for most of the season, Gallas at the back with Senderos, Flamini or Cesc replacing Gilberto and Rosicky/Hleb will play one of the wing positions. Shouldnt be that bad to put up a stronger squad.
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A few first teamers have always been in the CC team, even in the earlier rounds. So, that's exactly what I am saying when it comes to changing teams for the final or the "big" matches. ...

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Arsenals CC campaign last season had more than its fair share of first team players from the trip to Anfield onwards.

it was this season that he went totally for the second team..with Sagna on the bench and RvP recovering.

So in that sense i feel this result counts for more than the one last year.