Arsenal v spurs. NLD, the build up begins.

We have a massive match coming up on Sunday, it is the north London derby and a huge Arsenal fixture in any calendar. This year it might hold more importance than I would like it to. I enjoy the NLD as I’m sure we all do, it has produced some fantastic memories and some thrilling matches down the years. In recent history the score lines have resembled five-a-side match results, rather than a score one might predict, a tight 1-0 or 2-1? What the score is however, is not the important thing, winning the match or at least getting a draw is essential.

Unfortunately, we go into this particular one four points behind them, we are also away from home and we have failed to convince in the last few matches. In matches like this, we know that form isn’t everything, desire and drive often account for a lot. Working hard together and being fully committed to the cause make up for any gap in quality. It also some times takes a little bit of luck and good fortune too.

I don’t think there is a huge gulf in quality between the two teams as the press would have you believe. At this level the margins are very small between all the top teams. In terms of confidence however I cant imagine ours is bouncing off the ceiling. Football is a game where confidence is key and unfortunately ours looks shot to pieces. Within matches you can see the confidence appear and then evaporate within moments.

Wenger has gone on for years about the confidence within the team and perhaps the team believed it for a while. Now however, it is like we are a child on x-factor and the judge has told us “You cant sing, you have a terrible voice” and we reply “but my family and friends tell me I have an amazing voice, I know I can sing” The judges verdict: Simon, “No”. Fit American one who goes out with Luis Hamilton “No”. Irish chap “No”. Cheryl C*le “Flec kccceahhhh, zetfseaazzz shamzzzakkka alreeeettt, em cherrryl kkhhole I tell yer”

Football isn’t a singing contest though, so we need to get our heads on and be as pumped up for this match as possible!! We need to be strong and full of confidence. The team will know what the points difference is and what the match means in terms of finishing in the top four. I hope Jack and Carl will have told the new lads what the north London derby is all about, what it means and how important it is to the fans. I would have Jenko giving the pre match team speech, he reminds me of a young Snipster, here is a picture of our young right back chilaxing in his old bedroom. 

(The photo is via @Stuart_PhotoAFC)


This is a match I imagine spurs will be very much up for. The press have been building them up so much it wouldn’t surprise me if the Humanzee thought he already played for Real Madrid, but that might be down to his stupidity as much as anything else.

This NLD could be another edge of your chair affair as both teams are of quite similar standard over all. Gaining ground on them at their place would be excellent, a draw would be fine but dropping 7 points behind them would be far from ideal.

We have become accustomed to the spuds dropping points, ‘like a fat slag drops her panties on prom night’ at the end f the season. Are they going to do the same again this year? Who knows but we shouldn't rely on it as a tactic. We close in on them to one point and any small slip on their part we can capitalise on.

Following this match we have a 10 day break before the second leg of the Champions League against Bayern. The break is due to the match against Everton being postponed due to their involvement in the FA Cup. There is no excuses for not busting a gut, running until their lungs bleed fire, snapping into tackles and making sure that their diving, cheating, straight line running, Humanzee doesn’t see the ball too much.

Another quick heads up about our Facebook page which has some great content on it already and our twitter page which is also gathering pace.

http://www.facebook.com/TonyAdamsMagic

@tonyadamsmagic

Have a cracking Thursday, I'll be back tomorrow with a blog and we are going to be running a competition so keep an eye out for that.

Come on you Gunners!!

Wednesday, Just about standing day.

 Morning

Its smack bang in the middle of the working week and there is not a huge amount going on. I found this picture quite amusing and hope you do too. I'm not sure who drew it but it certainly sums my week up quite nicely.

There are lots of pre-pre-pre build up stories coming out about the match on Sunday. Its all a bit low on the interest-o-meter though. Some complete numpty spurs player has been saying, Bale terrifies Arsenal players and his goal against west ham has deflated our spirit, or something. How a goal against west ham will cause us any concern is beyond me. It should concern the west ham team and particularly the manager, Humanrus as his defence were so bad they make ours look like a brick wall. The only reason the Arsenal players are scared of Bale is because he is a Humanzee and if let out of his cage for too long he might be dangerous. Apparently Humanzee Bale has a soft spot for Theo going back to their Southampton days, that's why Theo developed into such a quick player, so he can run away to safety. You know it makes sense?!?

There was a nice story about the next statue outside the Stadium. Apparently it is going to be of Denis Bergkamp. Good stuff, love the bloke. I thought they broke the mould when they made him but it turns out I was wrong. (Sorry, poor joke)

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/picture-arsenal-are-to-unveil-a-new-dennis-bergkamp-statue-outside-the-emirates/

The statue looks really good though, I’m looking forward to seeing it unveiled.

There are a few other articles writing about how the team are building a British core. Its a bit old news, but it is a slow news day. The British core thing is all fine and well, I believe it will help moving forwards. Having an identity and a togetherness obviously works. You don’t have to look too far or think too hard to find a number of teams where they have, at least a backbone of nationals who instil the club ethos and standards into the other players who come in. I hope it works, however the only excellent player out of the five that recently signed extensions is Jack. They are all young so can develop but we are a bit ahead of thinking we have a British core to our first team.

Again a quick reminder to check out our Facebook and twitter page’

http://www.facebook.com/TonyAdamsMagic

@TonyAdamsMagic

Right I’m off, see ya tomorrow.

HumanPumpkiii

Arsenal v Spurs. Financial reports. Cromwell 3 points.

Hello and welcome to Tuesdays blog. I woke up nice and early this morning so I could get lots done today. That hasn’t happened so far. It is still sort of early for a man on holiday, but seeing as I woke up at 7am, it is now 9am and the blog was the first thing on my ‘to do list’ I think I must have got distracted somewhere along the line. Oh well, no problem... painting the bathroom / kitchen will just have to be put off for another day.

**A voice comes over the tannoy system**

“The next station is divorce south central, all alight here please”

Not where I want to be, not even for a moment while I wait for the next train back to ‘marital bliss heath’. I think I better get the painting done today.

Just a quick note to let you all know we now have a Facebook and twitter page. Please feel free to give us a like and a follow:

http://www.facebook.com/TonyAdamsMagic

@TonyAdamsMagic

We will be adding features to them and posting info during the day that hopefully you will enjoy.

On to football and our 6 a side team performed excellently to grab all three points, I mentioned in the blog yesterday, the team we played are of similar standard and always give us a good match. We won 4-3, it was close but a excellent hat-trick from Taunter T and a late winner from Jedi minded, man of the match, Ibe-Wan Kenobi to seal it off. Three points in the bag and pressure on the teams above, who we still have to play.

Running with the ‘keeping pressure on the teams above’ theme. Arsenal’s win over Villa was crucial, it meant that any slip up by sp*rs against west ham would be capitalised on. I only got to the pub to watch the last 30 minutes or so but while walking there I was enthusiastically informed that West Ham were 2-1 up. We arrived at the pub, sourced drinks, and settled to watch the remainder.

Soon after we started watching, West Ham should have gone 3-1 up, when one of their players went one on one with the spurs keeper. The keeper did well to save the shot, but I think had Taunter T been there, in the hat-trick scoring form he was in, he would probably have taken it around the keeper then back heeled it in to an open net. Equally if it was Snipster in that position, he would have done a drag back and then rocketed it in with his left, bursting the net with a fire ball.

The hammers didn’t score and Spurs went down the other end and got a scrappy second. “oh well” I thought
“I will be happy if this stays a draw”. Then Bale did what he does and scored another match winning goal for spurs, the west ham player stupidly showed bale onto his left about 25 yards out and bale thumped it from the left into the top right.

“Four letter word” I thought.

West Ham looked absolutely terrible. In the 30 minutes I watched they looked dreadful and ultimately lost them selves the game, they hoofed it long and made a couple of chances but for the most part they were really poor. If there are any positives to take from that match, it is that if west ham can go 2-1 up against tottenbale than anyone can.

If on sunday we can keep Bale quiet then we have a very good chance of beating them again. I’m not sure how we will set up for that match, we don’t really go out with that much of a game plan. I don’t remember the last time we set up with one man marking an opposition player out of the game. We tend to play our passing game and hope we create enough opportunities to score.

It leaves us 4 points behind them, no surprises there really but now we have to get something out of the match on Sunday.

It does make me laugh however that this spurs team is being touted around as their best team ever and they are only 4 points ahead of an Arsenal team that is being condemned for being one of our worst.

We will talk about that match in the days to come, in the meantime, there have been some financial reports released by the club. It all looks pretty good to me but i’m not a finance guy. Snipster is probably the better of us to do a write up on what it all means.

The optimist in me thinks “great we have tones of money to spend for now and the future, lets go and win the league next season”. The pessimist in me thinks “My season ticket is up for renewal, are they just saying we have championship winning ambitions so I buy again?”. I will be renewing for next season and I don’t want to ruin my own day by thinking my club wants to rob me, so I will go with the optimistic thoughts. Whooo hoooo winning the league!! Might set my deckchair out on upper street in anticipation of the parade.

Announcing the results, chairman Peter Hill-Wood said:
“Our ability to compete at the top of the game here and in Europe is underpinned by our financial performance which gives the Club strength and independence.”
"Our desire is to make everyone connected with Arsenal proud of the Club. We know that comes through winning trophies but also through the way we do things and that will remain our constant guide.”
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/club-announces-latest-financial-results

The press are going crazy with “who Arsenal are going to buy” stories. I will spare you the boredom, we have a lot of football between now and the summer.

Again a quick reminder to check out our Facebook and twitter page’

http://www.facebook.com/TonyAdamsMagic

@TonyAdamsMagic

See ya tomorrow.

I hope they are serving seconds of lasagna at West Ham!

Good afternoon to you.

This blog is brought to you in association with “chilling out in my hammock”. My wife said it was a stupid idea to hang a hammock, by the window in the back of the flat. I can tell you now, it was pure genius!! If I was the king, I would insist that all desks and chairs in offices were replaced with hammocks. Not only are they brilliantly comfortable and hubs for creativity. They are also excellent to snooze in. I have always found it incredibly hard to have a quick siesta at my normal old desk. Catching a few Zzzz while gently rocking in pure comfort however is a piece of cake! Mmmm cake, perhaps just a small slice.... and a cup of tea...

Onto football and not a bad weekend all round. We gained 3 points, Chavski dropped 3 points and tonight, with a little bit of luck, West Ham might do us a favour and take some points off of sp*rs.

A couple of weeks ago (Wednesday the 13th Feb) I spent some time predicting the Arsenal results and the results of the teams around us, for the run in. I put us down to grab all three against Villa, spurs to do the same against the hammers and for chelsea to get 1 point at City.

I predicted us to end up in 4th, sp*rs 5th and Chelsea in 3rd. However, if you have been following my predictions you will notice, I don’t have a clue about how to accurately predict a score or even place a bet for that matter. I don’t think it was a worthless exercise though, as it did flag up sp*rs’ run in is a bit more tricky than the rest of the teams.

We play them next Sunday at the lane, it is always an exciting match where the form book goes out of the window (and then rioting tottenham dwellers come in through the open window to loot all thats inside ha ha). The match is always intense, both sets of players know about the rivalry and I doubt it is particularly difficult to motivate the team pre-match.

The build up to that match would be even more exciting though, if we were only a point or two behind them. I was talking to G after the Villa match and he said he has a feeling the hammers might get a point. He predicted that West Ham would go ahead with a Andy Carroll goal and sp*rs would equalise with a late Gareth “Humanzee” Bale effort. If West Ham get a point or three I would be very happy indeed. A repeat of the famous Lasagna food poisoning in 2006 would be hilarious!!

Its a bit too soon to start talking about the match on Sunday, we have plenty of time to do that in the coming days.

I have a 6 a side match tonight that doesn’t start till quite late so I will only catch the last 30 minutes or so of that match.

Our 6 a side team face a team who have never beaten us, I think we must have played them a dozen times down the years. Its a difficult one to predict however as they have closed the gap in terms of quality and our last meeting we won 1-0, it was close! There can be none of the complacency Arsenal have shown against lower opposition. We have to get the points, we are chasing top place in the league and we have the quality, desire, ability and all manner of other Wengerisums to win the match.

I hope to return tomorrow with good news regarding that match and the West ham v sp*rs one too. Speak then, enjoy your Monday afternoon / evening

@pumpkiii

Arsenal 2 - 1 Villans - 3 Points In The Swag Bag

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday Arsenal played Aston Villa and won 2-1. They deserved the victory and claim the all important three points. The victory wasn't as emphatic as it might have been given Arsenal took the lead so early on in the match but it was the three points we were after.

 It was a bitterly cold day as I met up with Pumpkiii and G before the game around Highbury Corner. As we walked to the stadium, we talked about the short comings of the previous week and we all decided that the points were all we wanted, how we won them, what the score was or who scored didn't seem to be important. So much so that the now traditional score sweepy sweepstake didn't happen.

We arranged to meet after the game and went our separate ways to our seats. The mood around the stadium was subdued, everyone rapped up against the elements. I took my seat. An early goal would be just the remedy I agreed as I sat down.

The game kick off. Arsenal full of effort if a little unsure of their step started to the play the ball around, I think it would be fair to say villa hardly had a kick for the first five minutes. Arsenal moved the ball around well. Wiltshire breaking down the left and forcing the villa keeper into a save.

After about 6 minutes the ball was moved around from Jenkinson in the right, around the edge of the box to Santi Carzola on the left. his initial cross was blocked, the ball popped up, Santi took it down on his chest and drove it into the far corner. One nil. Early goal. Happy days.

I was looking forward to arsenal really taking control. Villa looked like a team down the bottom of the table, Arsenal were at home and one nil up after 6 minutes. I thought all the desire to prove their doubters wrong in the arsenal team would come out now and villa could be on for a pasting.

One swallow doesn't make a summer though and after the goal the wintery weather seemed to sap all the energy and authority out of the arsenal team. The rest of the half passed reasonably uneventfully. Arsenal didn't look decisive on the ball but looked reasonably in control of the game. Villa didn't offer too much upfront. Agbonlahor looked alright for them. Villa broke a couple of times down the left wing. The narrowness of our midfield and the inability of our wider attacking players leaves our full backs exposed again and again.

The second half kicked off much as the first had ended. Arsenal were in the ascendancy but our shaky defence made a mediocre villa team look dangerous every time they came forward. So around the 68 minute mark, Arsenal had one of a number of corners during the game, it came to nothing as usual, it was hoofed clear found its way up to the half way line, Weimann ran with the ball, arsenal defenders back off him and backed off him. He shot from 25 yards out, Scze hadn't had time to set himself properly,  not one of the defenders in front of him had stepped out and halted the run and it flew in the keepers bottom right hand corner.

One all. Rubbish defending  had let the opposition in again.

Arsenal took the game to villa from then on with Santi scoring again on 85 minutes. Driving it low in the bottom corner after a number of good arsenal attacks. Villa looked tired and arsenal looked good at the end.

It was a positive result and one that was desperately needed. It keeps the pressure on the teams above us and allow us to gather momentum in the premiership before the massive massive game against the lillies from the lane.

We probably should have won by more but our inability to defend will cost us dearly. I don't think the defenders or goalkeeper we have are not of the required standard. Vernimator was Ajax captain and plays centre back for Belgium and is their vice captain, Per plays for Germany regularly, Nacho second best left back in La Liga, Sagna was Mr. Consistent and was regularly arsenals best defender until his recent injuries caught up with him over the last little bit. I think the personal are fine, the organisation and defending as a team is whats not helping.

I would love to talk for more but I've got a few things still to do today and got to zip around London to a few different places.

Have a great Sunday everyone. MOTD 2 is on later so that's something to look forward to.

Quick special mention to Pumpkiii for doing the blog all last week. Its suppose to be a join venture but I'm super busy at the moment so he kindly found time to get it done. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did. Pumpkiii is the inaugural winner of the Glorious Gunner Of The Week Award.

Until next time.

Snipster

We're on our way. Arsenal v Aston villa v Klumzy

Good morning,

A short blog today. I was up till the small hours trying to get the podcast sounding ok. It was quite a challenge but with the help of my good friends @klumzyTung, Ant and Red Stripe we managed to battle our way through. It does make me feel a little tired though, lets hope the Arsenal players were not up till 2 or 3am mucking about with a sound recording... perhaps Frimpong.

We have a match against Aston Villa later on and after the week we have had, we need a positive reaction. No less than 3 points will do, I don't mind how we get them but I would like to see the team working hard and playing well together as a unit.

Sagna is out with a Knee injury so our man Carl Jenkinson will come in at right back. Nacho returns after being cup tied for the CL match. Who will play in center back, I don't know. I would have Per and Kos, no good reason, its just PerKos.

In the middle of the park I would play; Arteta, Jack and Santi perhaps bring Rosicky on to mix things up if we need.

Left wing: Poldi/Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Right: Theo.

Up front: Giroud.

Goal: our only choice, Szczesny

I would not mix things up too much for this match. Play our strongest side and give them instructions to go and win. Villa are another potential banana skin, if we don't win today, the pressure on Arsene Wenger will be huge. Saying that, it probably is already and it is how he can get the players to perform under such pressure that will be telling. Top footballers should be comfortable with pressure, they have it week in week out, especially in England. 

Here is today's podcast, on it I am joined by Ant as Snipster was unfortunately unavailable. We also have some intro music thanks to the living legend Klumzy Tung. He is a top musician who has other music on Sound Cloud which is well worth a listen. You can also give him a follow on twitter @KlumzyTung

We're on our way - Arsenal vs Villa.


I hope you enjoy the podcast. I hope we win the match today. I hope someone brings me some coffee.

See ya tomorrow

Come on you REDS!!

@pumpkiii

Watching paint dry. Arsenal v Aston Villa + betting tips on the Champions League

I thought for some reason that Snipster was doing the blog today, so I’m sorry for its lateness. I was walking around a DIY shop trying to find bathroom paint which wasn’t in either; 2.5L cans (too big) or in a ridiculous colour. When Snipster text me asking “when is the blog going up?” I answered “I don’t know, when are you putting it up?” you can imagine the rest of the conversation. As I am on holiday at the moment it does seem fair that I should do the blog. The fact I’m on holiday is also the reason I was buying bathroom paint in a DIY shop. Holidays for married men are either, family holidays away, lads weekends away, or stay at home and complete a never ending list of jobs the wife has compiled. Why oh why didn’t I go on a tour of Amsterdam, Berlin and Ibiza? In the end I bought a 2.5L tin of paint in “duck egg” and it was decided I should use the extra paint on the kitchen. Smashing!

On to football... well its all a bit doom and gloom at the moment. I realise that the last two blogs of mine were also a massive fun sponge but thats what happens when we lose I guess. Like picking at a scab, football fans seem to take a lot of masochistic joy out of the dark times. Odd really, but maybe thats where opinions are born from and the “I told you so” voice inside of all of us has some credence.

Going through all the other doom merchants blogs and press I did discover something that brought me a glimmer of hope and give me a strange appetite to gamble. I’m not a betting man normally, I like a flutter on the grand national, a lotto ticket when its a triple rollover etc etc but aside from that I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to place my money on something I have no control over. If it is likely to come in, the odds are not worth it. If the odds are worth it, it is never going to happen.

I will admit I have strange quirks to my personality, and this might not make sense to some people. But when I get home every day I empty my pockets onto the sideboard in my bedroom and put my lose change into a tray. I don’t take the money out again the next day it just stays there and eventually when the tray is full it gets counted up and the money gets spent on something fun. There ends up being lots of small change in there 1s, 2s and 5p’s. Here is a picture:

So one of the news articles I read, said that Arsenal are now massive odds against, like 100/1 or something to get past Bayern. Now normally I would think “wow, we will never win, the odds are to high, only a mad man would put money on that happening”. But I have all this spare change.... so I’m thinking “well how about I just put the 1, 2 and 5p’s on, it might only be £3 but at 100/1 I will be laughing. So I split the bigger coins and took the smaller ones to a shop with one of those money counter things in it and here is the print out:

As you can see its a bit more than £3... but £2,500 return it quite tempting and might fund a Amsterdam, Berlin and Ibiza trip in the summer. Or am I mad and should I just use the £25 on the paint I bought for the bathroom / kitchen... hmmm...

****** Update - the odds are not that good, I have found us at 23/1 to get to the quarter finals and 300/1 to win the Champions League but not 100/1 to get past Bayern. Shows my experience in betting. Might buy a new paint roller ******

We have a important match against Villa on Saturday. They have had a couple of better results recently and might fancy putting us under some pressure to see if they can capitalise on our recent poor form. I don’t think they are a very good team though and we should have enough to beat them. We need to gain momentum and confidence as we are traveling to spurs next and that is a must win match (as long as we don’t drop points tomorrow). We have to win, there is a lot of pressure on the team to perform. They will have to shake off the nerves and play to their best from now till the end of the season. We have to get 4th, we have to beat spurs and we have to finish above them in the league. Then we can rebuild in the summer and the world will be a better place.

We will back with a “We’re on our way” podcast later today/first thing tomorrow so check back for that. 
See ya then.

Pumpkiii

You can follow us on twitter @pumpkiii or @snipster

Arsenal - I scratch my head - Lots of questions - A bit of a rant.

Arsenal - I scratch my head - Lots of questions - A bit of a rant.

In the wake of the Bayern Munich and Blackburn defeats there are a lot of people crying out for change. Some want Wenger out, some fancy a change at board level and some want new improved players. On the one hand it is easy to demand change after (effectively) being knocked out of two cup competitions in a week. On the other hand we have to finish the season as strongly as we can, so would rocking the boat further make a positive change? The desire for change is not something new or knee jerk but what needs to change?

The sports press love times like this as it is easy to fill column inches with stories of “Club in crisis”. The design team get to have a half day, as all they need to do is break out the old broken Arsenal badge and stick it next to a badly punned title and away to print they go. All interviews are pulled apart, distorted then analysed by halfwits until the resulting article is so far removed from the source it is unrecognisable. like vultures the press circle, waiting for their prey to get wounded, they gather in numbers and eventually gorge themselves picking apart the bones of a carcass, taking the limelight, credit and getting fat off something they had little care for when living.

Arsenal are in decline, there is no hiding from that. We have grown in: stadium capacity, revenue, facilities, sponsorship deals, global reach, etc etc. But we have shrunk in playing football ability (footballistically). What is the stem of the problem? Nobody seems to know, it seems so many things are wrong with the club, is anything going right? Or is that just the press stirring it all up, getting in to my head and making me think that we have a divine right to glory and trophies?

Some say the board won’t reinvest, as they want to make lots of lovely money. Some say that Arsene won't spend the money he has available as he has lost his cheque book and is embarrassed at his clumsiness. Some say that Dick Law, our chief contract negotiator is a bad negotiator and we need David Dean back in to do that. There is the Usmanov argument; should he be allowed a seat on the board so he can invest in new players? What is up with our transfer policy? Why are we crippled with such a high wage bill (£140,000,000) when we have so many fringe/ rubbish players? Why do we have this crazy wage structure, where we have to say goodbye to our top players so that Denielson/Bentner/squillaci/etc/etc/etc/ don’t feel hard done by at earning much less. “you want to earn more money, play better football” should be said to them.

Who knows, but I hope they sort it out. I like Wenger and I don’t think he is fully to blame for the recent decline we have seen. He has done so much for the club in so many ways. Although, is he the right man to turn it round, start again and have another stab at it?

If another manager comes in he/she will need time and money to improve the squad. Having spent so much time with his hands tied financially would it be cruel to let go of Wenger and let someone come in and feast on the fruits of his labour? We have a lot of the deadwood squad nearing the ends of their contracts. We have some large sponsorship deals with cash to spend at the ready. I believe there will be a quite a lot of movement in the summer, in and out. I would love for Arsene to lead us to glory again. I wish he had done so in the FA Cup this season, but we must look forwards and just hope he can motivate this bunch of players to get over the line.

On another note, I was alerted to a news story regarding how many medals ex-Arsenal players had received since Arsenal last won a trophy. Although I was initially surprised at how many the total number is, when looked at in more detail it isn’t that alarming.

64 in total looks bad but:

Thierry Henry 7 - We parted ways quite amicably. He served us well.
Patrick Vieira 7 - We sold him. He served us well.
Jose Reyes 5 - He never settled in london and left at the time the club was on a high
Alex Hleb 5 - We sold him and I doubt he did much to win those trophies
Eduardo 5 - After a horrific leg break, when we were on to win the league, he returned a different player and we didn’t have time or space to get him back up to speed.
Cesc Fabregas 4 - Returned home to Barca.
Lassana Diarra 4 - Never really played for us much, don’t know what he has won.
Then there are 16 others that will include Nasri and a bunch of other bench warmers.

There is also Ashley Cole 8 - I didn’t know he had won the “who is the biggest weapon in world football” trophy that many times. Oh well.

So yes, some players have gone on to win, but that is hardly surprising and we did quite well out of them.

We have a home match against Aston Villa on Saturday and we will have a chat about that match tomorrow.

See you then.

Pumpkiii

Arsenal 1 - 3 Bayern Munich - Its an uphill struggle but its down hill from here.

Walking to the match there was a really exciting buzz about the place. I normally go to Highbury and Islington tube station and walk through Highbury fields to the stadium. But due to platform overcrowding at H&I the tube doors didn’t open and the train finally released me at Finsbury Park. Having lived in Highbury for a number of years I always go back there and meet up with the lads for a pre match beer. Going to Finsbury park wasn’t a massive problem, but the walk to the stadium takes a longer and much busier rout. However, It was great to take the walk down St Thomas’s road, past The Auld Triangle pub and then down to Arsenal Underground station. There was an excitement and anticipation around the ground, there was singing and chanting in the pubs and when I eventually got to the Highbury Barn, even Taunter T was optimistic.

Now, I don’t honestly believe that many sane Arsenal fans would have bet a lot of money that we would win this match. But we needed to keep ourselves in the competition for the second leg. The fans were up for it, the stadium was rocking and after a Munich fan let of a flare there was a real sense of going to battle.

Prior to the match the atmosphere was electric, this isn’t due so much to the fans being in love with this team currently but its support of the club. Its unfortunate but the fantastic support is sometimes as brittle and fragile as the players we have at the club. Generally I don’t have a problem with people expressing themselves and this season there have been increasing negative chants and post match booooos. But I really don’t think Boooing the team off at half time yesterday was in any way productive.

I didn’t think we played particularly badly. We are not a very good Arsenal team at the moment and Bayern are one of the best teams they have ever produced. I think the players out there last night, for the most part, gave it their all, but we are badly lacking quality in a number of areas (Defence, midfield and attach ha ha ha).

Bayern worked us out quite quickly and applied pressure to the weak areas constantly, with devastating effect and accuracy. They were confident, quick, efficient and every time they had the ball they looked like they could score.

I was a little surprised with the starting line up. The boss forced himself into making the decision to play our out of form captain at left back, in buying Nacho, Wenger knew he would have to play Thomas Vermaelen in left back for the Champions League match. It was down our left hand side that Bayern poured time and time again. Vermaelen looked exposed and confused with what to do. I’m not going to do a hatchet job on Vermaelen, that would be too easy and I don’t think it is that simple. None of our back five looked good enough yesterday. They play without confidence, organisation or leadership. The best of the five was Sagna who looked knackered at the 70 minute mark as he had been busting a gut up and down the right wing as Santi, who should have been in front of him, was aimlessly running around without the discipline a winger needs against top competition.

The initial line up was an odd one which raised some questions and also memories. Why did we play Theo upfront when he is so effective on the right wing. His link up play with Sagna is tried and tested and his assists for a target man striker are very good also.

Why was Santi used as a right winger? And then Switched to the left? He offered little protection to Sagna or Vermaelen. He also offered little going forward and was often drawn far out of position going in search of the ball. Podolski does a similar thing on the opposite flank weekly but why we are playing Santi out of position in a match like this is baffling. It reminds me of what happened to Ashavin. We signed one of the best creative attacking midfield players and then stuck him on the wing to rot, strange!

Poldi wants to be a striker but we play him on the left, Theo is a winger who we played up front and Santi was played as a winger. It all seems a bit make shift and experimental. 

Arteta is played out of position weekly now and his sideways / backwards passing have become such a big part of his make up it seems like he cant pass forwards any more. What happened to the exciting player he was when we signed him?

I could sit here and write a bit about every player and why they are not good enough. But I wont bore you and depress myself. I thought we played quite well in parts but we look awful at the back and toothless upfront. We have the ability to play some really exciting football in midfield but the cost of committing men forward often leaves our defence exposed.

It leaves a massive mountain to clime for the return leg. Going to their place and winning 3-0 will be a tough thing to do.

I feel like a parent who isn’t angry (as I knew this could happen) but i’m disappointed as we could have strengthened the squad so we would have the personnel to start this match with simple things like a striker on the pitch.

We are now practically out of everything apart from the 4th place cup. Can we win that? Do we really care, if we are only going to be in the competition to gain money we don’t re-invest? Will our ticket prices come down if we are not in the CL?

AstonVilla at home on the weekend then spurs away, we gotta get our mojo back and fast.

@pumpkiii

Wer'e on our way - Arsenal Vs Bayern Munich - Pre match PubCast

Wer'e on our way - Arsenal Vs Bayern Munich - Pre match PubCast

Tonight we have a massive match against a German team called Bayern Munich. This is the Champions League, we have got through to the knock out stage, but how much further can we go? At the moment we are a team who can look amazing on one day and look terrible the next. If the former turns up we will have a great match on our hands, if the latter... well... lets just hope the former turns up otherwise Snipster won’t be having much fun writing tomorrows blog

Flicking through the papers are lots of stats and noise about Bayern being the best thing since the bread knife. Munich only conceding 7 goals in the domestic league while also scoring 57. Munich only conceding 1 goal away from home in the league... blah blah blah. Stats are great and vlid but you can also look at our stats in the Champions League and think “Wow Arsenal have beaten all the big boys home and away over the last few years”. The stats are there as a consequence of the match, each match is different, and either team can win.

I have seen many Arsenal teams down the years and this is by no means the best. However we know that cup competitions can throw up surprises (weeps into his coffee) we know this first hand this season, so there is no reason why we can’t get a result tonight. By all accounts they like to play in a similar way to us. They like to have lots of possession and pass in neat triangles etc etc. If we can resist their pressure, keep our heads calm and perhaps hit them on the break, we might be able to force them into the sort of errors we are prone to. If we can get an early goal and get them rattled I think we will grow into the game and have a great night!

I was quite nervous about this match after Saturdays display but having recorded the PubCast last night after a 6-a-side match, I am feeling excited. The PubCast (as its name suggests) was recorded in a pub, we were drinking some beer, there was some language used that some listeners might find offensive.

Here is the link: PubCast - Arsenal v Bayern Munich

I will see some of you at the usual for a pre-match beer i’m sure. I really hope we get a result tonight, the team needs it, the manager needs it but we really deserve it!!

Finally, on the press conference Arsen gave yesterday. The manger isn’t everyones cup of tea anymore but you still have to love him, he deserves respect and the way he spoke to the journalist was totally justified.

Come on you Arsenal!!

RED ARMY!!

@pumpkiii

Where did it all go wrong? when did it last go right?

So Arsenal go out of another cup in the sort of way we are accustomed to these days. Knocked out in a one - nil home defeat to league one team Blackburn. It was a complete shambles, there was a lack of care about the match that the manager, the players and everyone at the club really need pulling up on. We should have been going into this match as pumped up and as switched on as possible. This is the 5th round of the FA Cup, the next round is a quarter final! Take it a bit seriously lads and you might just win something!

I appreciate that at the beginning of the season when you measure up the cups and rate them accordingly the FA Cup is probably 3rd in favour, but this season it represented the best chance of gaining any trophy. The manager sent out a team who looked like they had forgotten that to win matches you have to score goals. Not win corners, not dominate possession, not pass the ball across the back four repeatedly until the 60,000 (yeah right) people in the stadium fall off their chairs with boredom. You have to stick the ball in the net. Like Blackburn did with 100% accuracy. one shot, one goal. simples.

The club appears happy to finish in the top four each season and the feeling is that a top four finish is enough to keep the board happy and the coffers lined with lots of cash. The trouble is that the message is spreading to the team and while a top four finish is enough for some it is not enough for others. Others like Cesc, Robin, Samir...... Jack? The Diaby’s, Rosicky's, Gervinho’s, Arshavin’s of this world are probably more than happy to toe the line and aim for a top four finish, picking up their massive pay package on the way. But what if they under achieve in their under achievement? What if we aim for 4th, miss and finish 5th? or 6th?

“The club wont be able to attract top footballers as they want to play in the champions league”, I hear you saying. We never sign those players anyway. And surely a top footballer will know that Arsenal have been in the champions league consistently for a million billion gazillion years without ever winning the damn thing. That Arsenal are a club who’s ambitions are to get into the top four so we get champions league revenue but lets get knocked out of all the cup competitions so as not to stretch ourselves too thinly so we don’t make the top four again next year.

Its depressing to watch. I cant remember if I read it, or if it came up in conversation with another Arsenal fan, but it is like watching someone you know and love slowly die of a hideous disease and there is nothing you can do to help.

Every area of our team looks worse than it did year on year. We are getting weaker and the disease is spreading deeper. The players have caught it, the manager has become so accustomed to it it has become part of his character. The board have given in to it/ promoted it / cashed in on it / got rich off it. Now even the fans seem to have it. There were lots of empty seats on Saturday and the atmosphere was flatter than I can remember it for some time. This was a match we should have been going out to win. A competition we should have been excited about. But at the end of the match there was a chorus of boos much louder than any of the cheers in the match.

Sorry for this blog being so negative, we have another cup match tomorrow night against Bayern Munich in the champions league. I was really excited about the match, watching your team play the best opponents is what football at this level is all about. I just hope we are not completely exposed. Before the Blackburn match I thought that on our day we could beat anyone. Having been knocked out of another cup to a lower league team shows we can also be beaten by anyone. Bayern are not “anyone” and we will need to be completely on our game to get anything other than a humiliation.

I really hope we manage to have a performance we can be proud of. But it would have seen that performance on Saturday.

We will be back with a podcast for tomorrows match, I am playing football for our 6 a side team later so I guess that might have an effect on how up beat the pod is... Fingers crossed for a win and a happy go lucky recording.

See ya later...

Arsenal 0 - 1 Blackburn - No positives, nobody blameless

I've overslept this morning. It may have something to do with me eating my own body weight in mini baby bells and spending the night in a sort of half way dream zone which has led to me waking up hungry and annoyed.

Anyway, Arsenal played Blackburn yesterday in the FA Cup and lost one nil. It was another awful performance by a team who seem to have perfected the art of making a rod for their own backs. The Arsenal team is not full of top class talent but even our perpetually injured and persistently not good enough reserves had far too much for a Blackburn team who really didn't have anyone.

The team had been changed around and a few players got their chance to prove how good they aren't and an opportunity to rest some of the other players. Arsenal started brightly if a bit slowly and methodically. We dominated possession in the first half without really looking to trouble the Blackburn goal. Plenty of sideways passing around the opponents box, it gets passed to someone on the overlap and they then cross it in to the box with no arsenal player in it. Standard meaningless stuff.

For all our dominance and approach play I can't remember us generating a decent shot or forcing their keeper to make a save. I might have forgotten one or two but I haven't found the time to watch anything back yet. Blackburn looked fairly dangerous on the very few occasions they came forward. This was mainly due to us making them look good, that they could cross the ball and the ball then got attacked in the box and that arsenal look like they can concede at anytime on days like theses.

It was the newly returned Gervinho that had the best chance of the game. Played clean through by Tomas Rosicky just before half time. He managed to scuff his shot wide of the far post. I appreciate that you have limited time to make decisions and you might be knackered but really you have got to at least force the keeper to save it. The strike was poor.

Start of the second half and Blackburn started the stronger. Arsenal looked lethargic, short of ideas and thought we'd pass the opposition in to submission without anybody taking any responsibility for the run or the final ball that would have broken the deadlock.

With about 20 minutes left Wenger brought on Santi, Theo and Jack and took off 3 of the 10 underperforming outfield players. It was a big gesture. It was intended to reinvigorate the misfiring gunners and intimidate in name if not physical stature and overwhelm the Blackburn players, as well as introducing 3 players who have this season taken the responsibilities needed to win games.

As soon as they came on Blackburn scored. They knocked a long ball down their left wing, found the Blackburn attacker who had a decent shot, this was palmed horribly straight back into the middle of the box by scezechny. It fell to a Blackburn player who scuffed his shot into the ground, it bounced up and hit the far post and it went in. One nil Blackburn. I can't say I was dumbstruck or shocked, it was on the cards from this fumbling faltering arsenal side from the beginning of the match.

The rest of the game petered out. Arsenal didn't really do anything much. A few people had long shots that were never going to go in. We had a few moves where we passed it round the edge of the box for somebody to cross in to nobody.

The game ended and the Arsenal fans roundly booed. They booed the underperforming players, who are less than great but still far better than the Blackburn side; booed the manager who's words seem less believable and brilliant early management of the club seems miles away from where we are now and booed the board who seem to do and say nothing about the problems the club has faced over the last seasons.

For all the chat, its not getting better, its getting worse.

Wenger answers man’s question of life - cup size preference

Wenger answers man’s question of life - cup size preference

FA Cup 5th round against Blackburn this afternoon. There are still questions regarding team selection and squad rotation. If I were the manager I would be tempted to rest some players and rotate the squad. We have a number of players who have come back from injury or have something to prove. We also have some players who should be hungry to impress to push their way into the first team. Rosicky and Diaby I believe are fit to play, there is also Arshavin but I doubt he will even find himself on the bench.

The CL match on Tuesday gives the manager a headache over which cup size he prefers, does he go for the smaller but more liftable, or for the cup that will be more than a hand full and possibly a waste? Decisions, decisions... 

With the back five picking itself due to injury and suspension, the rotation will come in the midfield and upfront.

I would like Rosicky to play, he could come in for Santi and could be paired up with Arteta and Diaby/Ramsey. Our front three will probably include Gervinho as he should be back and rested after the Africa cup of nations. Perhaps playing on the left or up front. But it might be a good opportunity to play Gervinho, Podolski and Walcott. If they can play with discipline they could interchange and make an effective striking/ crossing/ scoring threesome.

Whatever the line up is, i’m sure we have what it takes to overcome Blackburn.

We have had a week of rest for the players and a week without football for the fans, so I hope the players and crowd are well up for the match and we run away with a glorious win.

Must dash, I have sausages cooking and need to be down the pub by 13:30.

COME ON YOU ARSENAL!!!!!

@pumpkiii 

We're on our way, podcast. Blackburn FA Cup preview

Looking forward to tomorrows match, Snipster and I recorded a podcast for you. we cover everything from Arsenal, Blackburn, Valentines day and a load of other really interesting stuff

We hope you enjoy We're on our way

Back tomorrow with a blog and potentially a post match podcast called "Big E After"

Pumpkiii and Snips

Valentines Day Quickie - Henry, Cesc & SAGna

Just a quick round up today as I've got to get going.

Arsenal all time record goal scorer and purveyor of luxurious yet affordable cars has come out with a statement of Love for The Club. Hes quoted as saying how, one day he would like to return in whatever capacity was suitable. Hes got 2 years left to run on his MLS contract and with Brady changing his role in about 18 month could he come into the youth set up then. It might be a bit too soon perhaps?

 I don't know whether his got his coaching badges but in whatever role I hope he comes back and gives the club and hopefully the youth team a bit of his pantented Va va voom. Would he be too bigger personality? What are his connections with Usmanov? Would his return created changes further up the club? What does anybody on the board actually do? Lots and lots of questions, not enough time to answer them!

 Moving on and Cesc is the Ying to Thierry's Yang, the sun to his moon, the laural to his hardy and other comedy opposites. Cesc has apparently scorched (but not in a lovely almondy way more in a apocalyptic deforistation way) reports he was on the jet plane back to Blighty so he could come back and fight it out for a top four finish and watch his ex teammates win the league. Instead he decided to stay playing for the best club team in the world with some of the best players ever, in the country and place of his birth. Go figure that one out.

Finally, as time ticks on against me, I will touch on The Sag - Bacary Sagna, he has been for me the most consistent of all our defenders over the last few years. Unlike some of our recent full backs you could never question his physique, his desire to win or his commitment, hes so focussed on the game he feels at ease playing in his golden dreads. What a man! He has had some below normal games recently and he has been speaking about them in the press.

There was a little question mark over his contract and whether arsenal were delaying because of his recent leg breaks, seeing how his bones healed and whether he came back as strong. This assumed approach by the club was questioned, did our outstanding defender not deserve a new contract and why were we letting one of best players again reach the final year of his contract. That seems to have died down a bit now and after his incredible efforts during last weekends game against sunderland he says his committed to working hard to get his form back and wants the team to do more defensively.

 So that's your lot. I hope you enjoyed it. When we worked out the legality of putting links in? Quotes and stuff we'll add them in. Pumpkiii and I will be starting a facbook page soon and also a twitter account and getting an e-mail address so watch this space. Finally we'll finish on a competition, Pumpkiii will buy you a small chocolate bar before the game if you can answer the following question:

 What can you NOT question about Bacary SAGna?

a. His physique
b. his golden dreads

 Leave your answer in the comments section...I think you have to either sign in somehow or leave it anonymously which will prove difficult to award you any prize but do it! Its fun!

 Have a great day my friends.

 Until next time.

 Snipster

Arsenal to finish the season in ..... place. Podolski, Barcelona and more.

It’s Wednesday, so we have made it to the middle of the week, Hurray!! Unfortunately, for only the second time this year, we don’t have a mid week match. Great for the players some of whom could probably do with a little rest, not so great for us though, as we have to wait to watch our team again. Boooo.

There are some photos going around taken from Lukas Podolski’s twitter account showing us how (relatively) new-to-London footballers can spend their days off. And there was me thinking footballers spent all their money on fast cars and expensive women. Good for Poldi, I think he is settling in to the team well. Him being subbed off after 70 minutes in almost every match is still a mystery, but his goals and assists stats are good, especially seeing as football matches only last 70 minutes for him. 

I also came across a nice reminder of a match we won at home a couple of seasons ago today. It was against a little known club from a small seaside town in the north east of spain. http://www.arsenal.com/news/features/arsenal-2-1-barcelona? I was at the match and it was a one of the best atmospheres our new stadium has experienced. I would put it up there with Henry scoring on his return against Leeds and us beating spurs 5-2 twice last year. There have been other excellent nights at the new ground but for me those stand out. 

There is not much other Arsenal news and instead of following the lead of other articles who are talking about summer transfers... seriously?!? The January window has just closed, there is nothing anyone can do now!! I have thought about the points we have and the points we need until the end of the season.

Currently we are in 5th, 4 points behind (the chavs) spurs. We are 5 points behind (the chavs MKii) Chelski. And we are 2 points ahead of Everton. So how does our run in compare to the others? spurs have not lost a match in 10, including 6 wins and 4 draws, but have they got a more challenging run in? What about Everton, they normally start the season poorly but have a strong finish, will that be in reverse this season? Chelski have looked good in patches this season but will they be able to hold on to their lead?

I obviously don’t have the answers to these questions and I can’t see into the future. I also haven’t done much research into the performances of other teams and how injuries etc might be effecting them. I have simply gone on what i have seen and what I guess will happen. I might stick a quid on them all coming in just to see how much I would win if they all do. But I certainly wont be re-mortgaging so I can lump the lot on a dead cert.

Arsenal Fixtures

Aston Villa H - 3

Tottenham A - 3

Everton H - 1

Swansea A - 3

Reading H - 3

West Brom H - 3

Norwich H - 3

Fulham A - 3

Man U H - 1

QPR A - 3

Wigan H - 3

Newcastle A - 3

Total points + 44 = 76

Tottenham Fixtures

West Ham A - 3

Arsenal H - 0

Liverpool A - 1

Fulham H -3

Swansea A - 1

Everton H - 3

Chelsea A - 0

Man City H - 0

Wigan A - 3

Southampton H - 3

Stoke A - 3

Sunderland H - 3

Tottenham Points + 48 = 70

Chelsea Fixtures 

Man City A - 1

West Brom H - 3

Fulham A - 3

West Ham H - 3

Southampton A - 3

Sunderland H - 3

Tottenham H - 3 

Liverpool A - 1

Swansea H - 3

Man Utd A - 1

Aston Villa A - 3

Everton H - 3

Chelsea points + 49 = 79 

Everton Fixtures 

Norwich A - 3

Reading H - 3

Arsenal A - 0

Man City H - 0

Stoke A - 3

Tottenham A - 0

QPR H - 3

Sunderland A - 3

Fulham H - 3

Liverpool A - 1

West Ham H - 3

Chelsea A - 0

Everton points + 42 = 64

As you can see, if my predictions come in, chelski will finish in 3rd, we will finish 4th, spurs will choke their way into 5th and Everton will finish 6th. 

I admit my Arsenal predictions are a little rose tinted but I do think spurs have more challenging matches than us. Please feel free to comment on my predictions, your favourite moment at The Emirates, or anything else brought up in the blog.

I think @snipster will be including his predictions in tomorrows blog. So I look forward to us winning the league in that, ha ha ha ha. 

Im back on Saturday morning for the podcast “we’re on our way” and see some of you for a pint before the match.

See ya

@pumpkiii

Santos "This is not goodbye but see you later." Moving and emotional stuff.

I woke up this morning feeling a little confused and tired, walking into my lounge my thoughts gathered and the memories came flooding back. This was evoked by seeing my 6’5” mate asleep on the sofa and many empty booze bottles littered around the table. We played 6 a side last night and won 10 - 2. The night went on until I couldn’t remember why we were celebrating. Apparently there was some amount of falling over involved too. A quick mention to my blogging partner in crime @snipster who scored a peach but also conceded a penalty, the highs and lows heh...

There doesn’t seem to be too much going on regarding Arsenal today. There are bits and bobs coming out regarding the departed Santos. Santos, the laughing left back, has gone on loan to a brazilliant club until the end of the season. Did he get enough of a chance to prove himself? Was he unlucky with injuries? Did he have the best intentions? I don’t really care. I don’t think he was quite good enough or reliable enough to play at a this level. My concerns are not for individual players at the moment, its nice to have favourite players and heros but having only started 13 matches for us he certainly wasn’t one of them. The main concern is for Arsenal and how well we play as a team. Our defence does not fill me with confidence, it does the complete opposite. Whenever teams come forward we seem to panic. Most teams we play will probably think they can have a go at our back four. Wait till we make a mistake and eventually we will give them a goal scoring opportunity. 

The one question Santos’ departure does bring up is, could we have used him in the Champions League? Our current contenders for that position are; a cup tied Monreal, a Injured Gibbs and injured Vermaelen. It puts us in a position where we might not have a first, second or third choice left back. But then would you want to start Santos against Bayern Munich? Probably not... 

Before then we have a home match against Blackburn in the FA Cup, so hopefully we can get some players back from injury or come up with a solution... It really would be Magic if Tony Adams could come back in to sure things up. 

As we don’t have a mid-week match, we have some time to regroup and rest some tired legs. The FA cup match is up next and we will be blogging about that in the days to come There will also be a podcast for you to enjoy on saturday morning.

Aside from that there is little going on. Try and enjoy the rest of your day I have always found Tuesday to be the ugly sibling of the week. Nothing much of note ever really happens on a Tuesday.

Pumpkiii 

We're on our way podcast 1

Here is the first podcast from TonyAdamsMagic

We hope you enjoy it
Give us a follow on @snipster and @pumpkiii

Arsenal Show Spirit Of Old - Black Cats 0 - The Arsenal 1

So how do you start your first ever blog! Good question?! Looks like I have, now on to the game!

The Mighty Arsenal took on Sunderland at the stadium of light yesterday in a really exciting encounter. Arsenal ran out One nil winners, collected the three points, let the tires down on Lee Cattermoles car and came back down the M1 motorway in the coach all dressed as santa claus in celebration of our outstanding Spaniard Santi Carzola.

Arsenal started the game at the high temp we had wanted. As me and Pumpkiii had bemoaned yesterday on the worlds greatest podcast, which is stuck in a digital prison of it own making and unable to upload (some thing are just too beautiful for this world), too often this season arsenal have started a little big with the handbrake on and looks less up for it than you would have wanted or maybe just a bit unsure of themselves. Yesterday none of those flaws were apparent and Arsenal got going from the refs first whistle.

We started creating chances almost immediately with Walcott shot stinging the hands of mignolet. Giroud perhaps could have done better with a couple of chances that came his way. Most noticeably for me when  he had a little time when running through he skewed his shot wide of the far post. Cattermole of course had already received his first booking after a dirty foul on Ramsey and was close to getting his second booking from a number of late and unfair challenges throughout the half, jumping in to the back of Carzola off the ball is certainly one that sticks out for me.

The passing arsenal exhibited from the start was at its precise and cutting best. Gone was the menotenous sideways passing to be replaced but great little triangle between Wiltshire, Crazola, Walcott. Ramsey was industrious and giroud formed a point of attack and always seemed willing to challenge if a bit lackadaisical to chase the ball if it gets away from him. It was far too much so sunderland and when arsenal click like that there are far too good for most team either here or on the continent.

Thirty five minutes had elapsed when Wilshire drove ball forward, nice pass to Walcott whos little sideways set up fell perfectly in the path of Santi Carzola. He smashed the ball low and hard with the outside of his left boot and the ball flew into the back of the Black Cats net. Fantastic goal and the minimum arsenal deserved for all their sharp clever passing.

The first half was seen out by arsenal. A little less emphasis was put on attacking, although that's very difficult with this set of diminutive footballing maestros. Sunderland were knackered and arsenal wanted to go in at half time a goal up.

Second half started and much as the first with arsenal passing the ball around. Sadly shortly after the restart Wilshire, who had borne the brunt of the Sunderlands rough and late challenges, had to go off after receiving a heavy kick to the thigh. Fortunately he returned to the bench tpo watch the rest of the game and so it doesn't seem to be too serious.

Diaby came on and arsenal seemed to lose a bit of their flair and control on the game. Sunderland certainly came more into it. Disaster happened when Jenkinson, already booked for a challenge in the first half, was sent off for an ill timed attempt as  Sessègnon, who had been a thorn in the arsenal side all afternoon, skipped passed him.

The pressure was on. 1-0 up. Down to ten men. Playing away in a land time forgot, Sunderland. Home fans started to pipe up. The arsenal back four had been massively rearranged already, jenkinson himself a last minute introduction after the aggravation of Kos' injury in the warm up. Sagna had been pushed across to centre back. Our left back playing only his second game for the club. Ramsey, a man for all positions, came back to a sort of right back position.

The rest of the game sunderland pressed and pressed. Swinging in crosses and corners from the excellent boot of oldboy seb larsson. A lot of goal mouth scuffles and last ditch clearances and defending. Sagna heroic in his new role at centre back. Szczęsny making a few outstanding saves most notably from a flecher header. Monreal stood firm. Mertesacker stood tall. The midfield came back and it was really great to see. The chips were down, our backs were firmly against the wall, away from home and we came out fighting like lions. Every ball was chased and every tackle was committed.

We had a could of breakaway chances at the other end with Walcott hitting the post and a few we shot when we should have just kept the ball.

We held on and the arsenal players celebrated as they deserved too. Fantastic result and an amazing effort. I was over the moon. reminded me of the arsenal of old. Reminded me of the same sort of effort at the back are were know for. The makeup of it was ironically one of the most famous games for me when I was growing up. Arsenal beating smurs in the 1993 fa cup semi final. It was 1-0 that day too. Our right back, Lee Dixon, got sent off and a certain Tony Adams scored the winner. Tony Adams Magic.

Fantastic. Well played Arsenal! Great result and Great effort!



I've been doing this since I woke up and really need to eat something and get on with my day. Playing tomorrow night 6-a-side with pumpkiii in goal. Hopefully we'll be able to tell you about another clean sheet.

Until next time gooners.

RED ARMY!!!

@snipster


Update: Looks like Fatty Boom Batty Santos has moved on. Probably so he can collect shirts from all around the world.

Walking along, singing his song, walking all over Sunderland

Walking along, singing his song, walking all over Sunderland

Pumpkiii: “Hi Snipster, fancy doing a podcast?”

Snipster “Yes mate”

Pumpkiii “Great, I’ll sort it out”

Snipster “Ok mate, just let me know what you want me to do”

Some time later...

Pumpkiii “Ready to record Snipps?”

Snipster “Always ready”

The greatest podcast ever, with correct score predictions, amazing witty topical jokes, awesomeness, Dotegrationilisation (a new thing we invented, which is literally ”the best thing ever” (TBTE)) Exclusives and other cool stuff, was recorded.

Pumpkiii “Cool, as you have that thing to do, i will write the blog and attach the podcast to it”

Snipster “Nice one mate”

Pumpkiii “The listener is going to love that bit you said about that guy doing that hilarious thing, ha ha ha you know the bit about the bit? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha”

Snipster “yeah and thats not even the best bit”

Pumpkiii “I know, we are spoiling the listener with this podcast, its probably going to break all records for the best one EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...........”  

Hours and hours of fooling myself i know what i’m doing with a computer follow... I have the recording on my phone but cant get it to the computer, tried emailing the file, USB ing it , up loading it to iTunes blah blah blah. So sorry to anyone who was looking forward to listening to it. I have ordered a mic so there will be a podcast for the next match I hope.

Footballing news:

Come on you GUNNERS!!!!!!!

Pumpkiii

Follow me on twitter @pumpkiii

Happy bacon day!!

Happy bacon day!!

The best way to start the end of the working week is with a bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee. I have started it with a monster hangover too. This is due to me not having work today which is possibly an even better way than the bacon and coffee thing.

On to The Arsenal and we have a game against Sunderland tomorrow. Having played Stoke RFC last weekend and won 1-0 it is important to come back from the bitter north with all three points and get a run of victories under our belts. At the beginning of the season we played Stoke RFC followed by Sunderland and dropped 4 points. We are getting to the end of the season now and the points we have dropped cant be picked up but the ones ahead must be!

This is a match I was going to be traveling up to with the lads but due to a number of things happening we decided to give it a miss. Right now the thought of sitting on a train for four or five hours drinking beer and lucky brandy makes me feel a bit nauseous. I’m sure by the time the match starts tomorrow I will be wishing I was a six pack into a football day out. Tomorrow I’m sure I will be dreaming of stopping in a shop to grab some lucky brandies while walking from the train station to the ground in the frosty northern air.

In reality the reason we probably didn’t go was that we have been to a number of disappointing away matches recently.  Having been to Man-ure and getting thumped and then to Milan and watching us go 4-0 down we decided that we should try and go to more local matches for a little while. The reason being, that the return journey is really quite soul destroying. Having spent a day; traveling, drinking and spending all disposable money for the month. The return journey gives you a long time to stew over the events of the day. So traveling from London to Sunderland which for us would mean going to Newcastle and then traveling south to Sunderland did not resemble a local match at all. Is there further you can travel to a league match? Basically going to Scotland and then taking another train seemed stupid. They are showing the match at The Emirates stadium tomorrow which I think we were getting tickets for. I believe Robert Pires is doing a Q&A prior to the match which would be cool.

I expect the match tomorrow to be a frustrating one. O’Neill always sets his teams up defensively against us and you can’t really blame him for that as it has been relatively effective. However they have a new striker up front who will want to make a positive start to his career there. With news that Thomas Vermaelen has been ruled out with an ankle injury and defender Laurent Koscielny will face a late fitness test as he recovers from a calf problem. Their new man could be facing Squillaci, that would not be good for us! I hope Kos will use his special velociraptor powers of recovery to make the match.

At the back they are, how we describe our 6 a side team, (a useless group of halfwits) an experienced bunch. Hopefully we will be able to unpick their experienced positioning and defending with our pace and skill.

Theo, Rambo and the Coq are available but I understand Gibbs and Gervinho will miss out due to injury and insanity respectively.

They are a team we can beat and should beat. Lets hope we have our half time talk before the match and really come flying out of the blocks rather than the lacklustre first half performances we have seen recently. We have all the talent we need to beat this lot. I think the days of complacency should be well behind us. We have lost to lesser teams this season so we cant go into the match thinking it will be a walk in the park. They will be organised, work hard and make things very hard for us. I imagine anyone that plays football in the north has the added motivation to play well and be bought by a southern team. So lets not get caught napping.

Any way as I predicted yesterday I am going to have 0 - 3 to the Arsenal.

Hopefully @Snipster will be joining me on a podcast tomorrow morning before the match so please check back for that. It will be our first one so Im sure it will be a lot of fun but also might be a complete nonsense - Ha ha ha

Have a good bacon day!

Come on you gunners!!

Pumpkiii

To follow me on twitter @pumpiii

Jack & Theo in Braziliant form! As ENG14ND crack the Brazil nut prior to next years World Cup

So the first main post on this new Arsenal blog site will start with a mention for two young English men, who represented their country last night and managed to transfer their excellent domestic form onto the world stage.

There were other good performances too and I think England played well for a change, but as this is an Arsenal blog I'm not going to invest too much time and energy on them. After the match I remember thinking "I'm glad John Terry wasn't involved in the match" but then I was reminded that a complete weapon reached 100 caps, and he is probably equal top on the leader board of scum filled bin bags in football.

Anyway, I thought Jack played extremely well. We must remember that he is a 21 year old guy who was out injured for such a long period. For him to come back a few months ago and now put in a performance like that, against a strong Brazil team is incredible! He had a slow start to the match but I suppose playing next to Steven "kick the ball as far as I can" Gerrard is difficult as the ball is being continually blasted away from the middle of the pitch.

The first impact Jack had on the match was a negative one, with him handling the ball in the penalty box. It looked quite harsh, as the ball was pinged at him from close range but it did come off his raised hand and you see them given. The resulting pen was saved but there was a change in Jack after that event, its as if he felt responsible and wanted to make it up to the team. So Brazil found themselves playing against Jack Wilshere (who is no stranger to commitment, grit and determination) on a mission. His link up play and drives forwards were excellent. It shows his class that he can slot into a team of relative footballing strangers and play so well. There has been lots of hype hype hype about the player recently but I think he deserved the MOTM.

Theo did a Theo in my opinion. He has a knack of drifting in and out of matches. Some times it looks like he doesn't want the ball and other times it looks like his team mates don't want to give him the ball. Then out of nowhere he will spring into life with the confidence of a male lion in breeding season and tear the opposing left back a new one. Last night it was Marcelo who was left trailing in the dust from Theo's afterburners. He perhaps should have scored but he had a good shot on goal saved and that resulted in some northern ape side footing England to 1-0 up. He is looking sharp at the moment and I hope the knock he picked up wasn't serious.

We have an important match against Sunderland this weekend. I think we should win the match comfortably. We drew 0-0 at ours which was our second match of the season. Back then I was disappointed with the result but it didn't carry as much importance as the match this weekend. That match was the second clean sheet in a row and there was a lot of praise for our defensive solidarity. Hindsight you cruel, cruel mistress. Now we find ourselves in a position where we need the points! We want to qualify for the champions league. But most importantly we have to finish higher than the inbred scum from up the road, down the lane, in their pikey caravan park.... what ever that hole is, they think of so highly they decided to riot and burn their own homes to the ground. Classy.

Pumpkiii prediction is a 0-3 win for us... we will have to wait and see. Back tomorrow with some more thoughts on The Arsenal.

Come on you Gunners!!

To follow me on twitter @pumpkiii