The North Bank – “It’s got va-va-voom” (An Arsenal blog)

Today’s post will be a bit short because I’m feeling a bit tender today. A stag night in Tokyo will do that to a man.

Yesterday saw us take on Portsmouth at Fratton Park and we ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. I didn’t get to see the game due to the stag night and then I fell asleep on the Yamanote line endlessly circling Tokyo. So, I have just got Match of the Day and Arsenal TV’s highlights to go on.

The boss opted to rest most of our key players, with only Walcott, Song Arshavin and Denilson starting. The defence comprised of Fabianski, Sagna, Song, Djourou, Eboue, Walcott, Denilson, Ramsey, Arshavin (c), Bendtner and Vela. It was an extremely young bench made up of Mannone, Frimpong, Randall, Coquelin, Thomas, Merida and Bischoff

I had thought that the boss might go with Bendtner and Vela up front. The scoring was opened by Bendtner after he rose well to get on the end of a corner and you have to say that James really should have saved it. But, he didn’t and it was 1-0 to The Arsenal.

The second came after a Davis challenge on Arshavin in the box resulted in a penalty which Bendtner converted with a well placed penalty into the bottom corner, to the keeper’s left.

Portsmouth created one or two decent chances and, luckily, Crouch wasn’t able to stick them away. Utaka rounded  Fabianski but the challenge of the keeper was enough to put him off balance and Sagna was able to make the challenge and prevent a goal. Then Arshavin set up Vela for his sixth goal of the season and it was one he deserved.

The game was well and truly over by the time that Pamarot was sent off for a professional foul on Arshavin on the edge of the Portsmouth area.

Overall it was a good performance and result and it’s good for some of the younger players like Randall and Ramsey to get run-out. I thought Vela had a good game alongside Bendtner.

The boss had this to say about the game and his team selection:

“I wanted to give a breather to some of the players. We dominated completely the first half, we were sharp and composed with a great attitude and our two-nil half-time lead was well deserved. They changed their game plan at the start of the second half and we struggled a bit. They had the turning point with a potential 2-1, but after we scored the third goal, the game was over.”

It seems like Adebayor may be on his way out of the club and personally I don’t think that would be a bad thing to happen. He has had a really poor season and hasn’t worked in the majority of the games that he has participated. So, if we can get a good price for him, sell him. Also, why is he having telephone conversations with the vice president of AC Milan?

It seems that The City want to have a chat with Peter Hill-Wood regarding the recent trading of shares between Fiszman and Kroenke Tonk Stan. Though, I don’t expect there to be any major problem as there is a provision in the lockdown agreement which allows for trading between the shareholders should the other members of the agreement agree to it.

Right, that’s all for today. I need to go and lie down, relax and watch the rest of Match of the Day.

Have a good one.

I don’t have much time today as i have to head off to a stag night in Tokyo very soon, the alcohol she is a calling. Hopefully some scantily-clad women too, with a bit of luck!

On to today and it seems that Eduardo is out for the rest of the season with a fresh set-back with his groin injury. He really has been desperately unlucky with having all of these small set-backs and niggles since his return from a broken leg. Let’s hope that he will be fully ready for the start of pre-season. He has plenty of time now to gain 100% physical fitness before the start of pre-season training in July. Fingers crossed he will be joined in pre-season training by our other long-term absentee, Rosicky.

Today sees us travel to Portsmouth for a 3pm GMT kick-off. Coverage in Japan is on J-Sports Plus and begins at 22:55. Fingers crossed for a positive result ahead of the mid-week second leg against ManUre at the Emirates.

At the press conference yesterday the manager has also ruled Silvestre and Clichy out of the Portsmouth and ManUre game and Van Persie will have a late test ahead of the Champions League game, but he is also definitely out of today’s game.

It will be interesting to see who the managers selects for the game today. We don’t really have much of an option in defence but to go with Sagna, Toure, Djourou and Gibbs. That might not be a bad thing either because they need to work on their understanding of playing together ahead of Tuesday’s game.

In midfield, Arshavin will return and I think that Denilson and Song will line up in the centre with possibly Eboue will get the nod out right. Up front I think it will be Bendtner and, hopefully, Vela. With Bendtner being subbed for Adebayor later in the second half.

I think that the boss will rest the so-called key players for today’s game and so I expect Cesc, Adebayor and Nasri will be on the bench.

Non-pitch-related news sees our very own Kroenke Tonk Stan raise his stake in the club to 28.3% (17,613 shares) of the club having paid £41.5m for Richard Carr’s 4,839 shares. That leaves him now just 1.7% away from triggering an automatic takeover offer for the club, which apparently amounts to about 750 shares.

I think we have all known for a while now that it is inevitable that Arsenal will be taken over, the only question has been by whom and when. Given the choices of suitor currently on offer, I think that we can be thankful that it is Kroenke and not the communist that is making the move.

Of course, it would be nice for Arsenal to stay English owned, but being an Irish supporter of the club, I am not too concerned if it is no longer English owned, as long as the new owner respects the traditions of the club and acts in a manner that is appropriate for a club of Arsenal’s history and tradition.

If the club is taken over in the summer, at least it will mean an end to all of the incessant speculation of will we or won’t we be taken over, it will mean that the club can start to really move forward. To start that we need to get out important players tied down to long-term deals and then we need to separate the wheat from the chaff and get rid of the dead-weight in the summer.

Let’s hope that if Kroenke Tonk Stan does take over the club he makes some transfer funds available to the manager. He is a sporting man and he is a totally different type of person to the communist. Like it or not, he is now the clubs largest stakeholder. So, he is here to stay and should be given the fans total support in bringing in a new era in terms of ownership, should he make a takeover bid.

Right, that’s about that for today. Time for me to go home, shower and then off to a local brewery to start the day’s proceedings.

2-1 to The Arsenal today, methinks. Come on you Reds!!