Sunday round-up.

May 16, 2010

I’m a bit knackered today after a ten hour marathon beer session during and after a Yokohama Baystars game yesterday, so this post will probably be shorter than usual. Well, I say that, but what with my propensity to waffle it could be the usual length.

 

A quick look at the papers today, and when I say papers I mean their websites as I don’t have access to the papers themselves here in Yokohama. Nasri revealed that he doesn’t talk to Gallas and that he isn’t the only one to not hold El Crapitain in the highest of regards. If, as looks increasingly likely, Gallas moves on when his contract expires, then maybe some harmony will be restored to the dressing room. It’s just a shame that we won’t get any money for him, but at least we will get his high salary off our wage bill. That’s a saving of something like 4m a year, money which can be reinvested in the likes of Chamakh and whoever else we sign in the coming weeks and months.

 

Jack Wilshere says that he’d be happy to go on loan to Bolton again next season and I hope that he does. It would be great experience for him and he would certainly play more games there next year than he would if he stayed with us. That would take him a step closer to our first team when he returns at the end of next season. It would be good for him to have another year at a club that isn’t as big as Arsenal, that way he will appreciate the club more when he comes back.

 

We’ve also been linked with a move for Jagielka and I think he’d be a decent signing for us. He’s experienced and is the right age. It would be good to have one or two English players in the team, too. Who knows, we could have Gibbs, Walcott, Jagielka and Hart in our starting eleven next season. Of course, that’s assuming that Arsene relents and actually goes out and signs a keeper…

 

I could talk about the Cesczzzzzzzzzz, but I have said all that I am going to say on that matter already but, if an when something concrete happens, I will comment on it if necessary. Until that time, it’s not worth commenting on. Right now I have it filed away under the double heading of ‘Tabloid shit-stirring & Barca presidential campaign candidate pandering.’

 

We have, yet again, been linked with a move for Gourcuff, though how much truth there is in the link remains to be seen. He’s good, he’s French, so it is inevitable that he gets linked with us.

 

I’ve seen a mention of plans for a protest at the Emirates Cup should Wenger fail to sign a quality goalkeeper before then. Seriously, is that a route that we want to be going down a few weeks before the new season gets underway? We should be starting the season with an air of positivity around the club, not under a cloud of pessimism and protests. If Wenger does sign a quality keeper, I’d be delighted. But, if he doesn’t then we will just have to suck it up and get behind our team and our keepers. If fans get involved in protests about not signing a keeper, that’d destroy the already fragile confidence of our current first and second choice keepers. Plus, if we start holding protests, that puts us at the same level as ManUre fans. We should strive to be better and more dignified, more Arsenal.

 

Right, that’s about that for today. Take it easy.

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A quiet Friday. No sensationalism here.

May 14, 2010

Where to start today? I’m not wondering that because of the plethora of news doing the rounds regarding Arsenal, quite the opposite, in fact.

 

Of course, I could talk about the whole Cesczzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It’s the same nonsense that crops up every summer, especially so when there is a presidential election at one of Spain’s big two. We all know that Cesc will return to Barcelona someday, but I would be pretty confident that it won’t be this year.

 

Therefore, like all of the years gone by, I am putting this story down to two things; the first being the Barcelona presidential election and the second being that newspapers generally print anything that they think will sell papers and when there is little else in the way of real news to print they invariably pull out the old reliable ‘Cesc to Barcelona’ story. Of course, if they do it enough, they will be right someday, but I think we will see Cesc in the Arsenal shirt for at least another season. Hopefully he will stay for many more seasons.

 

This whole story erupted again this week when Cesc was asked something along the lines of “If you leave Arsenal will it be for Barcelona?”, to which he replied “Yes,” no surprises there. Then, pressed further, they asked would he only leave Arsenal for Barcelona and he said ‘yes.’ Again, nothing new there. Only a fool would doubt that he will rejoin his boyhood club someday.

 

Of course, the part where he said that he is happy at Arsenal and is in no hurry to leave was overlooked or omitted from these reports, because that doesn’t stir any shit and, as we all know, shit stirring sells papers. It also leads to stupid websites printing sensationalist headlines in order to get hits. Well, if the type of people you want frequenting your site/blog are the ones that happily click on those sensationalist links, then good luck to you.

 

Right, that has helped me exorcise the lazy journalism and sensationalist websites anger that has been churning within all day.

 

Apart from that, there really is nothing else going on, not that I have come across anyway, so that’ll have to do for today.

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The Thursday after the season before.

May 13, 2010

It already feels like a long time since the season ended, I suppose part of that can be attributed to the fact that, for Arsenal at least it ended a few weeks ago. At least there is the World Cup to look forward to and take our minds off the fact that there is no Arsenal again until mid-July.

 

There should be some news or announcement in the coming days over the signing of Chamakh. Let’s hope it comes sooner rather than later and that Arsene can try and get a second player in before the tournament kicks off. When pressed in his post-Fulham press conference with regard to signings he said that we’ll see in July. I’m hoping that we will have signed more than just Chamakh by then. However, I fully expect us to be sitting on deadline day refreshing websites like mad in the vain hope of seeing us get a last minute bargain, as this is what Arsene likes to try and do.

 

I see that the ‘Transfer Linked’ page is still up on the main site. That’s is the mother of all stupid ideas. Every time I see that link on the home page I can’t help but imagine that if I was listening to the Ricky Gervais podcast, the meeting in which the decision was made to put that page on the site would appear as part of Karl Pilkington’s ‘monkey news’ segment. That’s how ridiculous I think it is. Why is the club’s official site peddling pointless tabloid speculation? Shouldn’t the main site be above that kind of thing, seeking to deal only in fact? (Adopts Droopy voice*) You know what? That makes me mad.

 

This is set to be a very interesting summer as there is the issue of squad rebuilding and also the continuing saga over who will make the next move in the club ownership issue. Things have been a bit quiet over the Lady Nina shares. Would she consider selling them to Usmanov, to get back at the board for ousting her? Or would she be willing to sell to Kroenke. I suppose a more important point would be whether Kroenke or Usmanov have the money to buy her stake without borrowing to do so. We know that they are both very wealthy, but do they have the cold hard cash readily available? Whatever happens, we don’t want to see any kind of move that would be leveraged against the club.

 

Despite the plethora of players linked with us so far, and considering the number that will over the the coming weeks and months, it is worth remembering that we will have Djourou returning to the first team next season and he will be like one of those new signings that Arsene likes to trumpet. That would leave us with Vermaelen, Campbell and Djourou in the centre, assuming that Silvestre and Gallas leave as expected. At this point, I hope that both of the latter two leave. Silvestre is a given with regard to wanting him to leave, but I hope Gallas also goes as his attitude isn’t suited to The Arsenal Way (TAW), so replacing him with someone that is less injury prone, more mentally sound and a bit taller would hit the spot, for me. Judging by the comments Peter Hill-Wood made in his favourite paper, the club are going to hold firm in what they have offered Gallas, and rightly so.

 

One player that has been linked with us is Toulalan (if that’s how you spell it), who I must admit I haven’t really had much of a chance to see on TV here in Japan, but if Football Manager is anything to go by…hehe. If we did sign him, I’m sure we could shoehorn his name into that Trolololololo song…..’Toulalalalalala-lalalalalan!’

 

The Q&A session with Gazidis recently was fairly interesting, if not entirely earth-shattering. The video, in three 30-odd minute parts, is available to watch for free on Arsenal.com. Just click on the following links if you are interested and have the time: part 1, part 2 and part 3.

 

I’m wondering how frequent my posting will be during the summer, I think I will post two or three times a week from now until the World Cup squads head off to their respective training camps, thereby signaling the end of any chance of signing anyone. During the World Cup itself I don’t see any real point in making posts as there will be very little (read nothing) in the way of Arsenal news.

 

The BBC quote Wenger as saying that he will add one player to the attacking side of our squad, Chamakh(alaka) Boom I assume, and also look to strengthen the defense. Let’s just hope that he does the latter through signings rather than gym work.

 

Finally, commiserations to Fulham for their defeat to Atletico in the second half of extra time last night.

 

Right, that’s that for today. Take it easy.

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A brief Monday.

May 10, 2010

This is going to be a very short post today as I am shattered after staying up late to watch the game and then having to get up early for work, too. Not a good combination. Thankfully, yesterday saw us secure the third place that we really ought to have secured a week or two ago. But, at least they made it over the finish line and, as it turned out, didn’t actually need a result out of the game at all as the Spuds were turned over by Burnley.

 

I won’t go into the game in too much detail as it has already been pretty well covered on Gunnerblog, so there is no real need for me to get into it today as time is at a premium, unfortunately. However, as you know, the points were secured by goals from Arshavin, Van Persie, a Baird own goal and Vela. A nice result to wrap up the season, though it doesn’t go far enough to make up for the disappointment and frustration of the last five or so weeks.

 

Elsewhere, some isolated speculation today links us with an aborted move for Akinfeev in January, where we apparently withdrew from the deal after terms had been agreed. To be honest, I find this kind of rumour a bit hard to believe as given the time Wenger puts into watching someone before ever making a bid, once he makes his move it would be extremely unlikely that he would pull the deal after personal terms have been agreed. But, you just never know.

 

Arsene said one or two scary things in his press conference, the most notable of which being that he believes that Lukarse has the required skill and ability to be an exceptional goalkeeper. Hmmm, unless he has gone a bit mental like the guy in the song ‘Turning Japanese’, I am not sure where he has noticed this hidden ability.

 

One journo said to Arsene that Arsenal fans want him to sign big name players for big money this summer and would that be likely to happen? Arsene rightly took a slight issue with this and I haven’t heard any sensible Arsenal fan saying they want him to sign big names for big money. I believe that the majority don’t care about the name or the fee, just so long as the player is quality and improves the team. I’m sure the marketing and merchandising department at the club would love a big name in order to flog club merchandise off the back of it, but I don’t feel most fans want a big name, just big players. I think I would cry out my brown eye if we signed a big name, such as Ibrahimovic, for big money. Arsene made a good point in that big names don’t necessarily mean big players. I agree. Another two or three players of the caliber of Vermaelen would do nicely.

 

The Sun links us with Wright-Philips, great, another short-arse is exactly what our team of giants needs…

 

The Mirror is reporting that everyone’s favourite ex-captain is demanding a pay rise if he is to sign a new contract. Is he off his rocker? With the amount of time he has spent out injured and given his age, does he really expect a pay rise? Eh, thanks but no thanks. Bye, bye William.

 

Anyway, that’s all for today. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Fulham all the best in their Europa League game this week. I hope they win it.

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Super Sunday? I hope so.

May 9, 2010

So, here we are, the final day of the season and, despite our supposedly easy run-in, we find ourselves needing a result against Fulham today in order to secure third place. Frustrating, yes. Unbelievable, yes. Infuriating, yes. Depressing, most certainly yes. But, that’s where we find ourselves and the players now have to roll their sleeves up, put in a shift and secure the points needed to prevent ourselves being pipped to third by Spuds.

 

I know I said yesterday that I wouldn’t be doing a post today, so think of this as an end of season bonus post to make up for the lack of posting throughout the season. It’s going to be a short one, I think.

 

Being in Japan, I don’t see all of the newspaper articles that you may see back in Ireland and the U.K., but the rumour is that Gallas could be on his way to Roma with Big Sol, as expected, being offered another year at the club. I have to say that another year for Sol is totally deserved given his form since re-signing in January. It’d be good to have him around the team for another season and hopefully he can give some good advice to the other defenders in training. Who knows, he could end up being our defensive coach once his playing days are done. Though, given Wenger’s phobia of all things defensive, that may not happen. We can but hope.

 

Does anyone else find the music played for the ‘Weird and Wonderful’ item on ATVO extremely childish and very shit?

 

In an ATVO interview Walcott hit the nail on the head when saying that the big teams have brushed us aside when playing us this season and we really do need to inject some steel and also a killer instinct into the team, going into next season. We have to learn to kill teams off when we have the chance. Remember the days when The Invincibles used to be three or four goals up before half time, sometimes even before 30min? We need that kind of killer instinct again. We need teams to fear us again. Teams facing us now know they don’t need to fear us because we have a lot of obvious weaknesses which they can exploit. Overall, the team is shorter than it used to be, so it is easier for teams to out-muscle us. We need a big more fight. We need to stand up for ourselves when teams try to bully or out-muscle us.

 

I have found myself using a line made famous by Droopy on countless occasions this season when watching Arsenal, that is: ‘You know what? That makes me mad.’ This has generally happened when watching Lukarse in goal. Of course, that is a watered down version of what I’m thinking at the time but, after the fact, that is what it translates to. We need to get some of the old Arsenal back.

 

I don’t want to sound too negative as there are also a lot of positives to take from the season. We can look at the huge improvement of Song, the immediate impact of Vermaelen, the fantastic performances of Van Persie and Cesc and even, dare I say it, the Eboue Redemption. Nasri has shown signs of improvement, though he is still not consistent enough just yet. Of course, I shouldn’t leave out Big Sol in terms of success stories this season as he has been outstanding for us since January. There was also the emergence of Ramsey to challenge for a first team spot until Chewbacca almost tore his leg off. So, we can take a lot of heart from these things going forward into next season. Let’s hope that Theo can make the same magnitude of improvement next season as Song did this year.

 

If we do secure third place this season, then you would have to view it as being an improvement. Yes, there are still many areas of the team that needs strengthening, but it would be an improvement nonetheless.

 

Three points today, that’s what we want. Come on Arsenal, finish the season on a positive note.

 

Right, that’s enough for today as it has already been a much longer post than I had planned. Take it easy.

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Fulham preview and news round-up.

May 8, 2010

The final game preview of the season is here and a little more news has begun to trickle through regarding tomorrow’s game, though it has come more from the Fulham side in that both Duff and Zamora are confirmed as missing out. Both are welcome absentees from an Arsenal perspective as it was Zamora that tortured Sol a few years back in what turned out to be his final game for the club in his first stint here. So, I’m sure Sol will be happy to not have to face him again, as am I, because he has been in good form this season.

 

The manager said that there is a chance that Clichy will play, but to be honest I would rather see him take a chance on Gibbs as it is the final game of the season and even if Gibbs were to have a setback, there is still plenty of time for him to recover before the new season gets underway. Not that I want him to have a setback, but you know what I mean. I think that Gibbs will be the future of the club at left back, so it would be nice to see him get a bit more playing time under his belt before the end of the season.

 

Both Van Persie and Arshavin should start the game, probably Walcott, too, with no other players to return since the Blackburn game. That leaves the manager with one huge decision to make, that being who to play in goal tomorrow? If indeed Almunia DOES have an injury, then it is a choice between Lukarse and Mannone. Neither of those choices fills me with great confidence but, I would pick Mannone ahead of Lukarse as we know that Lukarse has a definite mistake in him in every single game he plays, guaranteed. Mannone may be younger and less experienced, but I would have more confidence in him to do a job for us tomorrow, especially as he had such a good game against Fulham before. It’s crazy that Arsenal are in the situation where we’re hoping our third choice keeper plays instead of our 2nd choice, but that’s where we find ourselves so we just have to get on with it. Pray to whatever god or higher power you believe in that Wenger goes out and buys a quality keeper in the summer.

 

So, our probable line-up tomorrow will be: Mannone (hopefully), Sagna, Campbell, Silvestre (God help us), Clichy, Walcott, Eboue, Nasri, Diaby, Arshavin and Van Persie.

 

I think Eboue will keep his place after looking bright and making some good runs against Blackburn last week. Though we may see Eduardo start in place of Walcott. If that happens, we could see Arshavin and Van Persie starting in the wider positions with Eduardo up front. Van Persie plays out wide for the national team, so he could be a good support for Eduardo, who is likely to play his last game for the club tomorrow.

 

Elsewhere, the boss says that Tottenham deserve their place in the Champions League and as much as it pains me to say it, you can’t really disagree with that. After 38 games, the league table doesn’t lie. But, we’d better not let those bunch of c*nts pip us to third. I was at the Villa game a good few years back on the final day of the season when ManUre clinched the title on the final day by beating Spuds and a bunch of Spuds c*nts came down to Islington to gloat/goad the Arsenal fans. So, we can’t give them the chance to do something similar again.

 

The boss also came as close as he ever has to confirming a transfer without actually confirming it when saying this about Chamakh:

“It is not officially done, but we are confident on the boy. When all is clear we will come out and announce it.”

 

So, we are a step closer to having our first signing officially announced. Now, Arsene, get the finger out and sort out our goalkeeping and central defensive issues, please.

 

Of our current league predicament, the manager had this to say:

“I am surprised because I thought we would make the points before now. I know this match comes after a few disappointing results and of course since we have gone out of the Champions League there was a little downer in our heads. But I think we have enough pride and quality to finish the season well and to secure third place.”

 

It’s the job of the manager and his staff to make sure that the players retain their focus, fight  and desire, despite the disappointment of going out of the Champions League. You get the feeling that there was an air of complacency floating around the club in that they thought that a 3rd place finish was a given. This year should be another lesson to the team that nothing can be taken for granted in the league. But, how many times do they have to be taught this lesson? I wonder can Demento lend his hairdryer to us this weekend, because some of the players need a good kick up the arse.

 

Talking about possible transfers and team progression the boss had this to say:

 

“If we bring some players in then they have to be experienced. I think we have been in the race this year with the team we had. We will be stronger next year just with the internal improvement and with the experience these players will have. The additions will be minimal but if there are some they have to be really top class.”

 

In a strange way it is the final line of that quote that scares me the most, because we have heard the manager say this before and he has then gone out and signed Silvestre. Fingers crossed he means actual quality players this time. They don’t have to be expensive, as long as they are good. Also, I hope that our players actually do learn from the experiences of this season.

 

Anyway, this is the final game of the season, it’s at home, so I hope that our fans will give their all to drag the team across the finish line. The team needs our total support tomorrow. One game, three points. Let’s get the job done.

 

One final note, I’d like to wish Robert Pires (one of my all-time favourite Arsenal players) all the best in finding a new club after Villarreal told him that they won’t be renewing his contract. I still wish that we had never let him go.

 

Take it easy. I’ll be back on Monday.

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The final Friday.

May 7, 2010

This is the final Friday of the season for The Arsenal and as of yet things have been a bit slow news-wise today. Things have also been a bit quiet on the official word front, in terms of a confirmation/denial of the Chamakh(alaka) Boom deal. But, I suppose no news is good news.

 

Since my last post, Spuds beat Man Shitty 1-0 thus securing a crack at the Champions League for them and putting a bit of pressure on us to get a result against Fulham this coming Sunday. Not that we didn’t want our team to go out and get a result against Fulham, regardless of the Spuds game, but to be in the situation where we need to get a result in order to absolutely guarantee automatic qualification for the Champions League just shows how poor we have been over the final month of the season.

 

It amazing how a few inept and lazy performances have done so much damage to our overall assessment of the team’s performances and progress over the season. There are still a lot of issues with this squad, the greatest of which being in defense, but the team is on the cusp of improving it’s league position this year and that isn’t something which should be overlooked. That said, I think the performances of the other teams around us have made us look a bit better than we actually were. Yes, we may finish third which would be an improvement, but in terms of overall quality I am not sure we have actually improved a great deal. Certainly with regard to injuries picked up, we have taken a step backwards this season, though not all of those could be legislated for.

 

This season has shown that players like Vela, Diaby, Silvestre and Eduardo are not up to the task of representing Arsenal. The jury is still out on Rosicky and I would like to see him get another season to see if he can regain some form when playing regularly with Cesc, Van Persie and Arshavin next season. I mean, who wouldn’t struggle for form when playing alongside mediocre players such as Denilson and Diaby, who can’t really be arsed giving their all.

 

Of the four others mentioned above, I would expect Silvestre and Eduardo to depart in the summer but I don’t see Wenger letting Denilson or Diaby go. I quite like Diaby, he is capable of putting in great performances. The only problem is that he is even more capable of being a lazy sod that puts in some woeful performances.

 

Team news ahead of the Fulham game is a bit thin on the ground at the minute as ATVO still hasn’t put up the manager’s weekly interview in full yet, though today’s press conference should shed some more light on that matter a bit later. However, it would appear that Clichy is the only one of the players absent from the Blackburn debacle that has a chance of returning. It’s frustrating to not have Song for such an important game and it’s also disappointing for the player himself to not get the chance to play in the final home game of the season after having his best season for us. It seems likely that Arshavin and Van Persie will start. Let’s hope that Arshavin puts in a decent performance, he’ll need to be phenomenal if he wants to trick Barca into buying him in the summer…

 

I share Arseblogger’s incredulity at those that would like to see Spuds finish ahead of us in the league. How f*cking stupid is that? How in the name of f*ck would that help our cause in any way? If we finish fourth and then go out in the qualifiers, then you could forget any chance of splashing the cash next year. So those people need to get real and get behind OUR team, not those crowd of tossers down the road. We need automatic qualification for the Champions League, end of story.

 

My brother is heading to the game this weekend, so I’ll be crossing my fingers that he doesn’t jinx us and that we can take advantage of what will almost certainly be a weakened Fulham team. They will rest some players and those that will play will not want to pick up an injury, though there will also be some that try and play their way into their manager’s plans ahead of the Europa League final next Wednesday.

 

Anyway, that’s about that for today. A whole lot of nothing really. I’ll have more news, views and hopefully some concrete team news tomorrow. Time for a bit of Arsecast action (on the iPhone, nothing sleazy), check it out if you don’t already. Also, check out the ‘It’s Up For Grabs’ podcast with Alan Davies, too. Both are quality.

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Boom, boom Chamakh(alaka) boom!!

May 5, 2010

Nice to have a bit of good news to talk about straight off the bat today, the signing of Chamakh. It has yet to be confirmed by the club itself, but Chamakhalaka Boom has himself said:

“I am delighted to join the English football atmosphere, it is something amazing. I love Arsenal’s game. I know I will have to adapt but I know the short passing game with Yoann Gourcuff. In February, I made my decision. A departure clause (in a potential new Bordeaux contract) was not logical after refusing Arsenal last summer. Arsenal were not alone. There were Liverpool, Tottenham and crazy offers from Russia. But I was only focused on the Premier League…I am leaving for a new challenge. At Bordeaux I was the club’s child. In London, I won’t be a kid anymore. I have grown, I have things to prove and I am motivated to achieve it.”

 

Good to hear that he is up for a challenge and is motivated to do well. Let’s hope he can walk the walk as well as he talks the talk. Anyway, he can’t really contribute any less than the likes of Eduardo this season, so he can only strengthen us. Plus, he is coming on a free, which still leaves the majority of whatever transfer kitty Wenger has (minus Chamakh’s wages/signing on fee) to strengthen the defensive area of the squad.

 

Unfortunately, I don’t think one of those signings will be Buffon, who I would expect to join Man City. If he does, that would make one of either Given or Hart available and either would be a good signing for the club. Though, if Szczesney Hawkes harbours hopes of one day becoming our no1, he’ll be hoping that it’s Given that we go for and that he would one day replace Given assuming, of course, that he reaches a high enough level to be deserving of the no1 shirt.

 

One player that seems to have taken a step closer to the exit door is El Crapitain, Gallas. Apparently, contract talks haven’t really gone all that well and he is still stalling over signing the new deal. I’m not really sure what the problem is, the club have a long-standing policy with regard to the length of contracts offered to players in their 30s, so that shouldn’t have been a surprise to Gallas once talks began. So, if he won’t accept a one year rolling contract, then it’s time for him to sling his hook. I don’t necessarily agree with Wenger’s policy on contracts for the over-30s, but as long as he is manager, that’s what the players are going to be offered.

 

The rumours seem to indicate that Wenger will buy from within England. So, I wonder whether we will see one of Hart/Given along with Hangeland lining up for us in defence in August. Though with Given being out injured it’s unlikely he’d play in August, if signed.

 

Anyway, plenty of time for transfer speculation another day.

 

*UPDATE: Arshavin on Dennis Lachter:

“Dennis has not been representing my interests for a year, he is not my agent. He does not have information on my career plans, so his statements shouldn’t be taken for fact or paid attention to.”

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A kick in the Flaps.

May 4, 2010

Well, what can you say about that? Lukarse did it again. I can forgive him for the first goal as I do think that he was fouled, though he could still have done better. But, for the second goal, well, he really was rubbish. There’s no excuse for him not being able to get to that ball. It proved, once again, that he isn’t good enough to play in a top four team.

 

I remember Jens Lehmann getting axed because he made two mistakes at the start of his final season at the club. Well, Lukarse has made mistakes in pretty much every game he has played in. It’s not good enough. It wouldn’t be acceptable in a school team so it certainly shouldn’t be acceptable at a club that likes to think of itself as being in the top ten of Europe’s elite.

 

Blackburn set out to test the keeper by lumping balls into the box and getting players around him to put pressure on him. That’s a totally understandable tactic to use given Lukarse’s propensity to crack under the slightest bit of pressure. So, I can’t blame Blackburn for doing that. All they did was target our obvious weakness at the back. People used to do the same to Lehmann to try and get him to lose his cool, but those incidents generally didn’t result in the mother or all rickets. Taxi for Lukarse, please.

 

To be fair to Lukarse, he did make some good saves prior to the first goal. The only problem was that the customary mistake was always going to come. With an outfield player you can generally afford a mistake or two, but when it’s the keeper making the mistakes, then those mistakes generally result in a goal. How many points have we thrown away this season because of goalkeeping errors?

 

What was utterly infuriating was the general lack of fight, ambition and ability displayed by the team. Too many players on show yesterday just aren’t up to scratch, I’m afraid. Diaby, yet again, was wholly forgettable. Vela, as someone said on Twitter, puts the ‘meh’ in Mexican. A lightweight not up to the strength and pace of the Premier League.

 

To be fair to Eboue, he started brightly and made some good runs. Van Persie got himself a rare headed goal, from a flick-on by Sagna (who went a bit Stevie Bould for a minute). Unfortunately that was to be about as good as it got. Oh, there was a great chance for Vela to score but he didn’t really get anything on the ball and it skittered wide.

 

Watching the game, which kicked off at 01:00 JST, on a stream in bed didn’t help my mood, especially in the second half when we were particularly poor. By the time Eduardo came on, it didn’t really make any difference, for two reasons; the first being that we created f*ck all in the second half so he was never going to get the ball and the second being that he hasn’t really looked like a serious goal threat since Taylor tried to take his leg home as a trophy.

 

Talking about Lukarse’s performance, Wenger said ‘…I think he had a good game.’ As much as I love you Arsene, I’m going to have to take issue with describing Lukarse’s performance as good. The keeper’s job is to make saves, instill confidence in his defense and keep the ball out. Making a few decent saves but then undoing all of that with a ricket doesn’t, in my book, count as having a good game.

 

To be beaten by Wigan and Blackburn due to defensive errors and a general lack of effort is infuriating. It shouldn’t matter that the league challenge is gone and the players lack motivation. There is still third place in the league to secure. What happened to pride as a source of motivation? Those players owe it to Wenger, who has backed them to the hilt through thick and thin, as much as they do to the fans to give their all in every game. To go out onto the pitch and not bother your arse putting in a shift, yet then expect a pay rise every year or two just isn’t on.

 

The last few games have highlighted the inadequacies in the squad and the players that, although talented, aren’t good enough or hardworking enough for a team playing at the sharp end of the Premier League. Losing seven away games in a season just isn’t good enough. I was at the game when we secured the unbeaten season. How far, far away this squad is from that level. You look at the size, ability and desire of the respective players and it is just night and day.

 

I have no idea what plans the manager has for summer restructuring and rebuilding, but I pray that he has a plan in place with definite targets to go for. I just hope that one of those targets is a keeper.

 

Right, I’m too annoyed to write any more today. That’ll have to do.

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Posted by thenorthbank

He is the Walrus, goo goo g’joob.

May 3, 2010

So today sees us take on that horrible walrus and his bunch of journeymen. I always hate games against his teams because they never have any interest in actually playing football against us, they just want to kick players. There’s also the fact that he deludes himself into thinking that he always outwits us tactically, which is a load of c*ck. Instructing your players to kick the other team off the field isn’t tactically outwitting anyone. Though, of course, it never gets labeled as that, instead it is called ‘committed’ or ‘getting in their faces’ which gives it the misleading notion of being a good trait for a team to possess. Let’s hope we blow them off the field today and stick it to their hateful manager.

 

I don’t expect the team to change much from the one that faced Wigan. The keeper and back four should be the same. In midfield, I think that we will line up with Diaby, Song and Nasri in the middle, as Denilson has been ruled out for the rest of the season. I would go with Walcott and Van Persie out wide and Bendtner up front in order to give us a bit more aerial presence.

 

Almunia is still ruled out with his phantom wrist injury and it’s quite possible that he has played his last game for the club. I like Almunia, he seems like a very nice guy but, to be honest, he isn’t the required standard to be the Arsenal no1.

 

I also expect Arshavin to be out for the remainder of the season, joining Vermaelen, Denilson and Gallas on the list of muscular injuries, which seem to be one of our fortes.

 

For the kicking journeymen, Emerton, Grella, Samba and Diouf may all return. So expect some spitting and kicking from the latter.

 

I heard a rumour that the pitch at Ewood Park hasn’t needed fertilizing since the walrus took over as manager as his players do enough sh*t-kicking on it for that not to be warranted.

 

I won’t comment on the Arshavin quotes until they have been verified one way or the other. Though I suspect it’s a bit of agitating by an agent looking for a payday rather than the player himself.

 

Right, that’s it for today. Come on you Reds!

 

(One final note, the ‘walrus’ moniker comes courtesy of Arseblog. If you haven’t already read that site, check it out. You should also check out Gunnerblog, Goonerholic and East Lower)

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Posted by thenorthbank

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