Arsenal go top

Just feels good to be back at the top after a gap of nearly 3 years. The last time we were on top was in October 2004 and that was just after the year of the Invincibles.

It is still early days, but if we can keep this form going for the next dozen matches or so, then I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be challenging for the top spot in May 2008. The next 4 matches are against Derby, West Ham, Sunderland and Bolton. 10 points out of the available 12 would guarantee a first place before the clash with Liverpool, which falls after the break in October.

 

Technorati tags: Arsenal, Football

Arsenal Invincible’s vs. current squad

This is a first XI comparison of the Invincibles of 2003/04 and the current squad. Only 3 members have survived the Wenger axe and they are Gilberto, Toure and Lehmann, with Bergkamp retiring.

The last member to leave was Freddie and though his exit wasn’t as acrimonious as that of (C)Ashley Cole, his statements after leaving the club have been in bad taste. But, I wouldn’t blame him too much for the statements in the press conference where he says that WHU can overtake Arsenal this year. Wanna bet??

Anyway, how is the Invincible’s squad doing and what happened to them?

Jens Lehmann: He is one of the survivors and though he is prone to madness occasionally, he is one of the best shot stoppers around and his will to win is amazing.

(C)Ashley Cole: Is rotting in the Chelsea squad. Joined the blues after an acrimonious transfer saga in 2006 which saw Gallas and 5mn moving to Arsenal. Clichy has been very good defensively, but has some way to go before he can deliver the crosses that (C)ashley used to do.

Sol Campbell: Had become error prone after 2005. If his goal had become the winner for Arsenal in that 2006 champions league final, then his name would have got etched in the minds of Arsenal supporters. Alas, that didn’t happen and he is now with Portsmouth. Gallas is an able deputy on paper, but he still has to prove himself in an Arsenal shirt.

Kolo Toure: Another survivor. He has become the rock of Arsenal defence over the last 2 seasons. Personally, I like Toure partnering with Senderos as Senderos is better than Gallas in the air. But, overall the Toure- Gallas partnership looks good.

Lauren: Got injured in the 2006 season and when he returned he wasn’t the first choice as Eboue had made himself the first choice for that position with some impressive performances.

Robert Pires: Is currently with Villareal. I was disappointed with him leaving as he was one of the best players in that invincibles squad. Cole-Pires-Henry on the left was an amazing partnership and have torn defences apart. Rosicky is a player who is very similar to Pires, but likes to play in a more central role rather than on the left.

Patrick Vieira: Plays with Inter Milan currently. Was shipped out of Arsenal to Juventus in 2005 after an below par season. Lifted the last trophy that Arsenal won, the FA cup in 2005. Fabregas wears the No.4 shirt for Arsenal now and bosses the midfield.

Gilberto Silva: Another surviror. He is the captain currently and had a very good last season. If he continues playing like this then I don’t see a reason as to why the Arsenal midfield cannot contribute 25+ goals in a season.

Ljungberg: Moved to WHU in the last few days. Gave 100% when he was on the field though his performances in the last couple of years were below par. Hleb looks impressive in patches and is forming a decent partnership with Eboue.

Henry: Moved to Barca last month. Had begun to moan and crib about the team last season and was constantly complaining. However, his performances in the last 9 years have been nothing short of phenomenal for Arsenal. My choice for the 2nd best player in the squad. Van Persie has big shoes to fill and will have to put a 20+ goals a season performance this time around.

Bergkamp: The best outfield player Arsenal has seen in the last decade and half. Quite superb ball control. The only player of the Invincibles squad who went into natural retirement after 2005. Eduardo/Adebayor cannot fill these shoes, but they are different kind of players.

Players I would love to see

Of this lot of players, the only one I would have loved to see continue in an Arsenal shirt is Robert Pires. I feel we sorely missed Pires during our last campaign.

And going against popular opinion, I would love to see Reyes return to Arsenal. He can be a great player for Arsenal, but will only be a squad player in Madrid. Come back Jose…..

I would also like to see Walcott run the flanks for Arsenal and against slightly weaker opposition, they should play a 4-3-3 combination instead of 4-4-2. The only problem with 4-3-3 is the fact that Fabregas has to move from central midfield to the right, with Rosicky manning the left side.

Technorati tags: Arsenal, Invincibles, Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Reyes, Ljungberg, Gilberto, Vieira, Toure, Cole, Lehmann, Gallas, Campbell, Laure, Eboue

Arsenal: Premiership Fixture List 2007/08

This is the fixture list for Arsenal’s Barclays Premier League Campaign 2007/08. The matches to watch out for are coloured in Red. The Liverpool away and Man Utd home and the reverse fixtures are close to each other for comfort. It all boils down to a good start. Go Arsenal.

 

 

Date	Fixture	Time (BST)	Time (IST)	Time (HKT)
11 Aug 2007	Arsenal vs. Fulham (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
18th Aug 2007	Blackburn vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00
25th Aug 2007	Arsenal vs. Man City (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
1st Sep 2007	Arsenal vs. Portsmouth (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
15th Sep 2007	Tottenham vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00
22nd Sep 2007	Arsenal vs. Derby (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
29th Sep 2007	West Ham vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00
6th Oct 2007	Arsenal vs. Sunderland (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
20th Oct 2007	Arsenal vs. Bolton (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
27th Oct 2007	Liverpool vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00
3rd Nov 2007	Arsenal vs. Man Utd (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
10th Nov 2007	Reading vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
24th Nov 2007	Arsenal vs. Wigan (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
1st Dec 2007	Aston Villa vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
8th Dec 2007	Middlesbrough vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
15th Dec 2007	Arsenal vs. Chelsea (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
22nd Dec 2007	Arsenal vs. Tottenham (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
26th Dec 2007	Portsmouth vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
29th Dec 2007	Everton vs. Arsenal  (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
1st Jan 2008	Arsenal vs. West Ham (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
12th Jan 2008	Arsenal vs. Birmingham (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
19th Jan 2008	Fulham vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
29th Jan 2008	Arsenal vs. Newcastle (h)	19:45	01:15*	03:45*
2nd Feb 2008	Man City vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
9th Feb 2008	Arsenal vs. Blackburn (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
23rd Feb 2008	Birmingham vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
1st Mar 2008	Arsenal vs. Aston Villa (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
8th Mar 2008	Wigan vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
15th Mar 2008	Arsenal vs. Middlesbrough (h)	15:00	20:30	23:00
22nd Mar 2008	Chelsea vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	20:30	23:00
29th Mar 2008	Bolton vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00
5th Apr 2008	Arsenal vs. Liverpool (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
12th Apr 2008	Man Utd vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00
19th Apr 2008	Arsenal vs. Reading (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
26th Apr 2008	Derby vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00
3rd May 2008	Arsenal vs. Everton (h)	15:00	19:30	22:00
11th May 2008	Sunderland vs. Arsenal (A)	15:00	19:30	22:00

* – on 30th January 2007

The time mentioned in the 4th column is Indian Standard Time (IST) and in the 5th column is Hong Kong Time (HKT).

Technorati tags: Arsenal, Premier League, Barclays, IST, Indian Standard Time, HKT, Hong Kong Time

Arsenal defeat ManU 2 -1 in ManU style

Whew, it was a good match and the last gasp winner was in true Unitedesque style. Now, they will know what it is to lose in the dying moments of the game.

Watching Van Persie score the equalizer: ₤2.75mn

Watching Henry score the second goal: ₤10mn

Arsenal defeating ManU with a last minute winner: PRICELESS

There are some things MONEY can buy; For doing the double against ManU there is ARSENAL

Technorati tags: Arsenal

Beauty beaten by the Beast: Bolton 3 – Arsenal 1

Bolton 3 – Arsenal 1.

Well, this scoreline made me sit up and look at the Bolton’s team sheet. It pained a lot more after I looked at that team sheet and found out that not a single player in that side would make it to the Arsenal starting XI. (Maybe a case can be made for Anelka and Nolan, but even they would struggle.) Before, any postmortem is done this Arsenal side should be told that a lot of Football matches can be won or lost in the mind. And in the first half the Gunners lost it in their head.
Let’s face it, we were just poor in the first half. Pathetic defending from Adebayor lead to Faye scoring the goal from the corner in the 9th minute. I wonder what Adebayor was doing running away from the goal rather than with Faye. It was really poor. And the only defender in that area was Fabregas who is hardly capable of holding off Nolan and Faye together. The second Bolton goal was just too good. There was no way Lehmann could have stopped that shot from Anelka. From a defensive point of view you could argue that Anelka should have been closed down quicker, but I will give it to Anelka and take absolutely nothing away from him.
At 2-0, it was game, set and match for Bolton. At least a lot of people thought so, but Gilberto had other ideas and scored from a corner. So, it finished Bolton 2 – Arsenal 1 at half time and with Arsenal scoring just before half time, the atmosphere in the dressing room would have been much better.
I don’t know what was said in the dressing room during the break and who said it. But, in the second half Arsenal came out and played Football as it should be played. In the first half it looked like they came out with the idea that Bolton are going to come out and play a more ‘Direct‘ game. And since they had such an idea they were crying and pleading with the referee to book the Bolton players everytime they were tackled. In fairness, Davies should have been sent off, but they should realize that there are many ways to play football and the way Bolton play it is one of the ways. In the second half they came out thinking that they had to play football and they did an wonderful job. There was spirit, enthusiasm and even beat Bolton in their physical game a few times. Adebayor, Ljungberg and Fabregas hit the woodwork and were quite unlucky. Had the first two chances gone in the scoreline might have been different, but ‘ifs and buts’ don’t win you games. And when Anelka scored the third goal the game was beyond us. There might have been a hint of offside, but there was no daylight between Senderos and Anelka.

Yesterday, I wrote that a ManU win will be good for us and I still maintain that even though it would leave us 12 points behind ManU, provided we win the game against Wigan. The only sour point the result is that we will not be able to exert any pressure on United or Chelsea unless they drop a few points of their own. We have lost 8 points at the Emirates itself, which should be corrected with time. Later, Arsene Wenger wrote us off the title race saying that

We are too far behind. If you look at the number of points we have
dropped and the way we have played it is really difficult to take.

He would surely be thinking about the chances that Arsenal have had in the games and even a conversion rate of 1 in 5 chances would have served their cause.

Looking at the performances yesterday it looks as if Ljungberg doesn’t do much other than crib to referees. I can’t remember the last time he made those incisive runs into the box or beat a player. Freddie, perform on the pitch before talking about others. Adebayor and Flamini looked out of sorts. Walcott and Eboue looked pretty comfortable on the right hand side while Fabregas and Gilberto played their part.
Baptista doesn’t looked a Brazilian player for me as he seems to lack control on the ball. But, I would like to see him in the side if Arsene sticks to playing 4-5-1 system. Since, Rosicky is injured play Hleb-Fabregas-Gilberto-Baptista-Van Persie with Henry up front. Wenger said that Adebayor bring in physical presence to this side. Yeah, he occuppies space physically, but that is it. His noticeable contribution came in the ManU match, but after that he hasn’t impressed at all.

Yesterday, I wrote that Henry’s absence might be a blessing in disguise. But, I realize how wrong I was. Even if Henry doesn’t play well, he is capable of one or two of those magic moments and the teams also rallies behind him well. I think Wenger might bring back Bendtner back in January even though he has said that Birmingham can keep him till the season end. Bendtner might bring the physical presence required in the penalty area and we sorely seem to be missing it. Maybe Wenger should think about playing Baptista as a striker more than a midfielder.

I wish this Bolton game acts as a wake up call for all the players. If we play in other matches for 90 minutes as well as we played in the second 45, teams will really struggle to beat us. I feel that this is the low point for the season and things should get better from now on. And from now on the graph should only go upwards.

Picture Courtesy: BBC
Technorati Tags: Arsenal, Wenger, Bolton

ManU vs. Chelsea at OT

Well, everyone following the premiership will be waiting for this match to kick off and I am no exception to that. Ok, I will be waiting for this fixture after the Arsenal vs. Bolton match at the Reebok. In the last few seasons, Reebok has been sort of a waterloo for Arsenal and this year they will be wanting to set that record straight and get their premiership campaign into the next gear. Keeping tabs on Chelsea and ManU is important and provided that they win the game in hand, they will be 9 points adrift of United and 6 adrift of Chelsea. Walcott will get to start the game and the Beast might also get a slightly longer time on the pitch. I feel Henry’s absence will do more good to Arsenal than hamper them.
Now, the Chelsea-ManU game promises to be pretty interesting both in terms of play and its ramifications on the league as such. Being an Arsenal fan, I would want both teams to lose points since that would leave us with lesser points to chase. But, I feel a better result would be a ManU win. That would open up a gap of 6 points between Chelsea and ManU and Chelsea under Mourinho have never been in that position in the league. The other time I can remember Chelsea trailing was in the 2004-05 season when they trailed Arsenal by 5 points before Arsenal went to OT and the famous Battle of the Buffet happened. With a Chelsea loss we would trail them by 3 points and having to play Chelsea twice it gives us the opportunity to overtake them in the league without depending on anyone else.
The other side of the question is to ask whether a lead of 9 points for ManU is good? I would say that it would be easier to catch ManU even though they lead by 9 points as they are sure to drop points in the roller coaster last few weeks in December. Their squad isn’t as strong as Chelsea’s and their subs bench looks uninspirational except when Ole is there. United will weaken much faster than Chelsea as the season goes on, unless they bring in 3-4 players during the January transfer window. It looked pretty bad in the mid-week champions league match when they had to send on O’Shea and Evra as subs. With all respect to them, these guys can hardly get a team to raise its performance level. But, Chelsea are different in that regard. They have really good players who can come on and change the game. So, all said and done I would prefer a Chelsea loss as the best result and a draw as acceptable.
What about a Chelsea win? No, I would not want this to happen for the simple reason that I want to have a team above them for a decent part of the season.  Chelsea will be difficult to catch when they get to the top as under Mourinho they know how to stay there without any problems, but they haven’t chased teams. Also, Chelsea have found it more difficult to beat teams this season compared to last season. So, the preferred team positions after this week would be
1. ManU – 37 points from 12 matches
2. Chelsea – 6 points behind ManU
3. Arsenal – 12 points behind ManU and 6 behind Chelsea with a game in hand.

On paper, the teams look to be very evenly matched. Chelsea with Carvalho back should be bolstered at the back where Boulahrouz hasn’t been able to fill the void comfortably. He has been consistently inconsistent and that should be a worry for Mourinho. This match might also see Paulo Ferreira making a comeback into the team in the place of Geremi as Mourinho will look to put a proper rightback to counter Ronaldo or Giggs in the right wing. For ManU to win the game they should be hoping that Rooney gets the better of Makelele.
Chelsea would go with a 4-1-3-2 formation with Makelele sitting just ahead of the defence and Lampard, Ballack and Essien forming the midfield. Essien would have defensive duties to fulfill when Rooney is in an attacking position and help Makelele by becoming the second man to mark Rooney. I see Robben and Joe Cole coming on as subs in the second half for Sheva and Ballack, either if Chelsea is losing or the stalemate hasn’t been broken. If Robben comes on then they would change to a 4-1-2-3 fomration of the 4-3-3 with Makelele sitting behind and Lampard and Essien getting to play behind the strikers.
(C)Ashley Cole might also have a difficult game on hand if Ronaldo is in flow (he has been this season). But, he has had the better of Ronaldo in their previous encounters. Actually during the 2005 FA cup final against Arsenal, Ronaldo moved to the right as Cole had his number.
ManU don’t have worries about team selection and will go with a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Rooney playing in the ‘Hole’ behind Saha. With Ronaldo and Giggs on the wings and Scholes and Carrick in the middle, it is a set midfield and by this time they should be able to find each other in their dreams. I would put Heinze ahead of Patrick Evra in the left back position just for his physical presence. Somebody who can outmuscle Drogba and Essien would be very helpful. Also, Saha seems to require more than 3-4 chances to score and this could come back to haunt United. With RvN in the team you could have expected to score of every other chance.
But, the problems for United lie outside their playing eleven. They just don’t have anyone who can inspire a team in the subs bench. We saw what Walcott can do when he came on for Arsenal in their midweek match against Hamburg. So, a super sub is missing from the ManU bench and that could cost them dearly.
Chelsea are going to OT after back to back away defeats at Spurs and Werder Bremen, but they will surely be prepared for this. ManU on the other hand have been wonderful in the premiership, but inconsistent in champions league. They might be gunning for Chelsea after their midweek defeat at Celtic.

The war of words has already started and Cristiano Ronaldo says that Chelsea come in fourth behind Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal in terms of the importance they give for teams. And he also goes on to say that Ballack and Sheva are facing more Blues than giving it to other teams. Actually, we also feel the same. The Chelsea match would rank behind Spurs, ManU and Liverpool in terms of the passion.
And with Ferguson dismissing Peter Kenyon’s claim about becoming the biggest team by 2014, the pre-match banter seems to be getting better. Yeah, with 3 titles in the last 100 years, they should look at their trophy shelves rather than their cash registers.

Picture Courtesy: BBC
Technorati Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, ManU, Football

Arsene Wenger – Picture Imperfect

It happened during the weekend game at Upton Park. West Ham and Alan Pardew got to the head of Wenger and helped the world know that Wenger is after all not ‘Perfect’. I also didn’t understand why Alan Pardew was apologising so profusely after the match. I like Arsenal and Arsene, but what he did was not correct. He could have had a word if he felt that the celebrations were over the top, but you cannot push and shove another manager. That is not acceptable.
This overshadowed another match in which Arsenal failed to score even though they created chances. It also showed that they just don’t have a plan B if their free flowing game is curtailed by the opposition by packing the midfield and defence with 9 players. So, all credit to West Ham for winning the match and Arsenal better start scoring, as they might soon become the team which played wonderful football but didn’t win anything. I needn’t be telling Wenger and Henry that the only way to win over the fans is by producing results consistently. Producing a stylish display without scoring a goal maybe acceptable once or twice in a season, but 2 times in a week is just not acceptable. In the CSKA match Rosicky, Fabregas and nearly everyone in the midfield were culprits in front of goal. I wish there is someone in the Arsenal team who can poke the ball into the net from the 6 yard box, a-la a Ruud. And I don’t understand why Henry is going to the centre rather than play on the left. RvP can move to the right side of the field and Henry can play on the left . This coupled with Fabregas, Hleb and Rosicky moving forward can be a potent combination. Arsenals best attacks came from the left hand side and it happened when Henry moved to the left after Adebayor had come on and started playing in the centre. I wish Wenger starts Adebayor or Baptista (after he recovers) more often. I also want Wenger to start Walcott more frequently in matches where Arsenal start favourites. And it he can shift to a 4-3-3 system, it would help the team as there would be more support up front. At Upton Park on a couple of occasions there were no yellow shirts in the box when Clichy and Hleb were in wonderful positions to deliver the cross.
Also, the performance of the Rob Styles wasn’t too great in the match. It is known that everyone can make mistakes but mistakes like the penalty decision against Hleb can alter the course of the match. A decision to send off Vieira at OT helped Arsenal reinvent themselves in their pursuit in 2003-04, hopefully this match will do the same and lead them to glory. These are the moments when teams stick together and play for each other rather than thinking about individuals.
All is not lost as they trail Chel$ea only by 4 pts (if they win their game in hand) and ManU by 7pts, with Chel$ea to be played twice and ManU to come to Ashburton Grove.

Technorati Tags: Wenger, Arsenal, Pardew

Jens ‘Awesome’ Lehmann gives Arsenal 3 pts

It was quite an absorbing match at Old Trafford and Arsenal ran out winners due to a couple of astonishing saves from Jens Lehmann, some very disciplined work in the midfield by Cesc Fabregas and Gilberto, and some good work from Ljungberg , Rosicky, Hleb and Adebayor. To the credit of both the teams they played football, rather than trying to kick each other out of the park. There were not many mistimed challenges and there weren’t too many clashes also.
Arsenal as predicted started 4-5-1, with Adebayor upfront, but supported by Hleb and Ljungberg on the flanks. It was not a very eventful first 5 mins, but after than ManU sprung together a couple of passes and created a couple of chances. Around the 10th minute or so, Arsenal was awarded a penalty with Kuszczak adjudged to have brought down Adebayor. It was a 50-50 decision and it went Arsenal’s way, though Gilberto failed to convert it. Kuszczak also made another important save from the ensuing corner after the penalty. He also saved a stunning shot from Rosicky. While all this was happening United were unable to put together decent chances. Though they had majority of the possession, they failed to create any decent chances. Their first decent chance came nearly around the 40th minute, when an Eboue mistake gave Ronaldo the chance to shoot from close range. And shoot he did. The shot hit Lehmann on his face from nearly point blank range. 100 marks to Lehmann for his positional sense, though he would have seen stars for the next 5 mins. The other chance for United also fell to Ronaldo, but this time his shot was well saved by Lehmann. While all this was happening, Wayne ‘Wonderkid’ Rooney was a mere spectator and was restricted to the role of watching the ball as the only way United were getting the ball to Saha or Ronaldo was through long passes. Scholes was also rendered ineffective as United were made to operate only from one of the flanks rather than both as they would have liked and done, if Giggs had been available. Arsenal’s 5 man midfield was making life difficult for United to create any chances through the centre and this meant that Rooney was not utilized at all.
The second half began in a very similar fashion as the first. United had a lot of possession but failed to create anything clear-cut. They were restricted to long balls and also to shooting from the distance. However, with these long passes United did manage to find Saha once, who flicked the ball to Fletcher and then met his cross in the box, only to head wide. Other than this United didn’t have any other clear chance at the Arsenal goal before Solskjaer’s shot in the dying moments of the match. Arsenal meanwhile were starting to get better and Adebayor should have given them the lead when Eboue found him in space and he only had to beat Rio Ferdinand. He failed to do so and shot directly at Kuszczak. Baptista also shot agonisingly wide after he collected a mistimed O’Shea’s pass. However, the goal came courtesy of Arsenal’s midfield marshal Cesc Fabregas. He caught Ronaldo in possession near the halfway line and then made a run at the United defence before putting a pin-point pass to Adebayor to finish United off. Fabregas was lucky in a couple of occasions as the ball rebounded favourably towards him from a couple of defenders, but you create your own luck. But, Arsenal owed the victory to Jens Lehmann. His save off the Solskjaer shot was quite astonishing. He dived full length towards his left and got his fingertip to a Solskjaer shot and pushed it wide. This time he would have actually been among the stars as this won the match for Arsenal.
Looking at the match in retrospect, Arsene Wenger out-thought Ferguson and won the battle tactically more than anything. His 5 man midfield ensured that United never had any control of the game and without Giggs on the right they were rendered even more spineless. Rooney was not to be seen in the match, except for his shot within the first 15mins. And Ronaldo, though he was lively on a few occasions didn’t put any balls from the flank that actually were threatening. This win leaves Arsenal 7 points adrift of Chel$ki and United with a game on hand. From here on, if Wenger’s team manages to keep things together and with Van Persie and Henry coming into the side, things can only get better.
This result would do wonders for the confidence of Arsenal and though on paper it is only worth 3 points, on a note of confidence it is worth atleast half a dozen.

Technorati Tags: Arsenal, Jens Lehmann

Arsenal – Manchester United

It is that time of the year when old rivalries are reopened and the only way to recan the can of worms is to start the game. Yeah, this is one of the biggest rivalries in the world. It is Arsenal vs. Manchester United at Old Trafford. I still consider this game to be bigger than the game with Spurs or Chel$ki as Spurs have been minor irritants over the last couple of decades and Chel$Ki…. Well, you don’t talk much when you have won the premiership (1st division) only thrice in your history and two of those league wins have come due to the pouring of Russian oil on the Bridge. Generally Liverpool is the other club that Arsenal fans might be softer on. Enemy’s enemy is your friend, but it doesn’t apply in all cases.

Anyway, Arsenal – Manchester United. It is between the players, fans and managers alike. Arsene Wenger – Alex Ferguson, Vieira – Keane, Rude Van Nistelrooy, Keown, Lauren, Nevilles…. The list goes on. Yeah, other than the managers none of the others mentioned are to play the central role in this year’s fixture. Some have left the club, some have retired and some are injured. The departure of Vieira and Keane might have been the reason for this fixture losing some of the hot-headedness last season, but it is as passionate as ever. And, only last season one of these matches didn’t play a key role in determining the winner of the league. The only fixture that comes close to the intensity of this fixture is the Liverpool – Manchester United match.
This year Ferguson has been quite soft and also kept his mouth in its place before the fixture. There has been no vitriolic attack on Arsenal and this itself is quite a surprise. He has actually gone on record to say that ‘‘Arsenal are lost in transition“. Generally, the attitude has been to kick the Gunners in the park, get players sent off and literally do anything other than play football to defeat the gunners. Yeah, it is accepted that there is going to be some amount of physicality in football, but the level of physicality shown by United players have surpassed the norms at many times. And generally they have the referee play for them. Referees are bound to make mistakes, but when the mistakes are always against the visiting teams at OT, it is bound to raise suspicion.
I am not going to write about that fateful clash in OT 3 years ago, but I regard that day to be responsible for the 49 game unbeaten run of the Gunners. In that regard it is a huge thanks to (dis)United, but what happened that day, still raises my anger levels a bit.
In this fixture, I wouldn’t want to see glorious football, but football that will make us win. I don’t care if we score two goals or 4, but we should score one more than they do and we needn’t do it in style. Gunners, you needn’t pass the ball into the net, you can hit it from a distance. Rosicky, Hleb, Baptista, Walcott and Gallas, this is your chance to become legends at the Emirates Stadium in such a short span of time. Just go to OT and win the game. It doesn’t matter if you play dirty, just win it.
I feel Wenger should play a 4-3-3 in attack and 4-5-1 in defence. Some surprise element is required if you are to put ManU on the backfoot at OT and I feel that can happen if you play Baptista and Adebayor upfront and a midfield comprising of Hleb-Gilberto-Fabregas-Rosicky (in that order from right to left) and Eboue-Toure-Djourou-Gallas as the back four. I would ask Gallas to play in the position in the wing in which Ronaldo is playing. He would be the major threat from the wings, especially with the fact that Giggs and Park are injured and Solskjaer can’t last a full game. I believe that with Giggs not in the team, Arsenal is in with more than a 50-50 chance of getting a win at OT. Get Walcott and Van Persie (if he is fit) later on in the game to inject pace in the flanks.
So far I have refrained from talking about ‘C’ashley Cole here. I started hating this guy the moment he said that the Arsenal board let him down. Mr. ‘C’ashley, you went and spoke to the Chel$ki folks without getting permission. People leave clubs for different reasons. It is fine to leave the club looking for more money, but pouring vitriolic on the club and its players is just not acceptable. Don’t wash the dirty linen in public. I feel that Cole is scoring own goals with each and every one of these statements. The same applies to Gallas also. You can act in self-defence but don’t start making unwarranted comments.
And what the hell does Cole think by writing a book about your footballing career. He is 25 years old and his career is hardly 6-7 years in the making. If he can write a book on that, then almost anyone can write a book on anything they have done in life. I am pretty sure he will live to regret this mistake. And the same applies to Wayne Rooney. This kid has been into mainstream football for 3 full seasons not and already he has a book on his footballing career’s. When did careers start becoming this short?
I am pretty sure what Cole is doing now is only going to benefit the Arsenal players by motivating them more than anything else. Wait and watch Chel$ki, we are coming for you.

Technorati Tags: Arsenal

Baptista to Arsenal

Looks like Julio Baptista is surplus to the requirements in R$$l Madrid. He is valued in the range of 13mn pounds. Wenger can try a straight swap of Baptista and Reyes, if Reyes is still interested in R$$l. Goal scoring midfielders have disappeared (hopefully Rosicky will prove me wrong) from Arsenal and though Baptista is a forward, he could play in a slightly withdrawn position. Someone who could try to do what Pires did at Arsenal. But, I feel that AW might not move for someone who refused to come to Arsenal last season.
I would be delighted if Wenger is able to land Carlos Tevez at the Emirates stadium. He would add immeasurable value to the attacking options that are currently available at Arsenal. But, this would involve fighting some competition from ManU and a couple of Serie A clubs.

Technorati Tags: Arsenal, Wenger, Reyes, Baptista, Real Madrid