Redemption Song. Villa pre-view.

February 23, 2013

So now what? Will we continue to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or will Lady Luck give us a lap-dance at the Emirates?

One thing for sure, today will not be a de rigeur victory over a slightly rejuvenated Aston Villa. It seems our team are incapable of simple. Even the 1-0 victories have drama attached.

Unknown

On the back of two defeats, the visit of Aston Villa could be seen as an easy opportunity to remedy some wrongs and allow the team to regain confidence. But AV are very capable of at least drawing today. The threat of Benteke is enough to have our CB’s quaking and both Agbonlahor and N’zogbia have caused us problems in the past. Fortunately Richard Dunne is injured which will stop him injuring one of ours.

Despite the Vonder of Vaar Villa have conceded 50 goals already this season – we will score today, and probably more than one. I think Theo could have one of his better afternoons though Villa will look to sit deep and hope to counter-attack. They have the pace and the power to do so. Ball retention and concentration will be vital

But let’s be quite clear, Arsenal may be in a different class to Bayern Munich but Aston Villa are in a different class to Arsenal; if the footballing gods are with us, we should win comfortably. But they are not …..

Will  Mr Wenger trust Gervinho this afternoon? If he does it will demote Podolski to the bench. Now I like Podolski, I like him much better than I like Gervinho. So my hope is that Gerv is used purely as an impact sub.

Can anyone explain why we persist with playing 4-4-2 at home? I just don’t understand it. Ramsey is a fine player but we desperately need thrust and the man doesn’t have it.

My Team:

arse v villa

Perhaps this would be a game to use Coquelin who has been “knocking on the door” and needs pitch time if he is not to agitate for a transfer in summer. Jack despite being magnificent  needs a rest, I would start Diaby and bring on JW after 70 mins.

Today’s explorer. I am still in shock the Sir Francis Drake got beaten by the Germans. Let us hope that Charles Mason (1728-1786) brings us 3 points today. Mason was born in the Cotswolds, trained as an astronomer, met Dixon and together they created the Mason-Dixon line in USA.

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There are no images of Charles Mason, so I found this Gooner instead

In 1761 he travelled to Sumatra to study the transit of Venus; upon his return to England he met Jeremiah Dixon. Together they surveyed the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania. This was important because it became the dividing line between the North-East and Southern states of America. Both men were expert astronomers and surveyors, both became members of the Royal Society. Mason died n Philadelphia at the age of 58.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

Ed: I found this image of Charles Mason but can’t vouch for its accuracy – disappointing lack of facial hair …

Charles_Mason

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Posted by Erik the Red

Roast Chicken?

February 16, 2013

Let’s cut to the chase from the start …. I actively dislike Blackburn. Never liked their kit, hated Simon Garner, Dalglish, Mark Hughes, Fat Sam, the SAS, Haj Diouf, Kean, the Chicken men, and their ground is as awful as the town.

Last time we played Blackburn at the Emirates we beat them 7-1 and they were lucky to get the 1. An insipid display from a doomed team.

ox v bburn

More of the same today …. please

Can we expect the same today? Who knows? Much depends on the mindset of The Arsenal because we have handed out some real hidings at THOF this season. I would love today to be another thrashing but somehow doubt it will happen.

And what of Blackburn? Sitting mid-table in the Championship, carrying huge debts  and reliant upon loan players (Bentley, DJ Campbell & Kazim Richards etc) they are a club in trouble. I was surprised when looking at B’burn’s squad to see the name of Nuno Gomes. 36 y.o and given a 2 year contract in summer . Gomes was once a  £20m player but that was before Ox was born! Why sign him and give him what must be a big pension fund? Who knows?

It’s not all mis-management at Blackburn, they have also had their share of bad luck. For example, they signed Leon Best from Newcastle for £3m in summer  – a good player who had recently recovered from a cruciate ligament tear, one month into this season and he got another one!

One very good signing has been Jordan Rhodes. Our CB’s can expect a good physical battle this afternoon.

David Bentley. Will he start today? I doubt it, but Bentley is sure to get pitch time, and I expect him to get the reception he so fully deserves for his celebration following the fluke at THOF a few years back. To us this is a chap who has thrown away his career, a man who was born with immense talent but allowed his ego to derail him – to Mr Bentley and his family, he is a multi-millionaire who lives a lifestyle few can imagine. Such is modern football.

With the Bayern game looming AW is sure to rest much of the team. This is my guess ……

Runners & Riders

arse v bburn

The above team has all the necessary firepower to win this afternoon, though I accept it is light in midfield with Ramsey being asked to play the DM role. It also highlights the lack of a centre forward to replace OG.

Today’s English Explorer: As we are playing a Championship side today we have a second division explorer. – top man nonetheless. Cecil Rowling (1870 – 1915). Young Cecil was one of England’s most accomplished mountaineers and was among the first to explore and survey Tibet, in the process identifying Everest as the highest mountain. He went on to discover the source of the Brahmaputra river, and later to survey the jungles of Papua New Guinea.

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Don’t mess with me, Laddy ….

The First World War intervened and Rawling became a highly regarded soldier. Fighting at Ypres and the Somme he rose to Brigadier General, winning the DSO and the CMG. Leading his troops at Passchendaele, Rawling was killed by a German shell.

Blackburn will pack the midfield and likely parrk ‘t buss. As this is our last realistic chance of silverware we should get this tie settled early but somehow I feel Arsenal are in for a battle this afternoon.

To those fortunate to attend stay positive.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

One nil to the Arsenal ……

February 10, 2013

So another great game for the neutral but another nerve jangler for all of us. I had a thoroughly enjoyable day watching the live screening of the game at the home of football, but I have also decided that being an Arsenal fan likely takes some years off your life .

So what did we get from Arsenal in this game? Firstly the players seemed to be up for it from the start, and we didn’t have to suffer with waiting till the second half before we started playing. We started to create a number of clear cut chances, but as each one went begging you started to feel it was going to be one of those days. To be fair Mignolet was in superb form, and how often do we watch an opposition keeper put in an almost man of the match performance against us? What is it about us that seems to bring out the best in these keepers? Is it the way we attack? I am sure it doesn’t happen so often with the likes of Utd and the Chavs. That is a question maybe some of you out there can shed some light on.

We continued to press and were treated to some awfully inconsistent refereeing. There was a very strong shout for a straight red on Cattermole and I counted 2 maybe 3 Sunderland fouls in the passage of play that led up to Jenkinsons first yellow card. How we didn’t get a free kick before this I do not know. Anyway the faithful at the Ems were in no doubt how they felt about it. I think this was definitely a case of the ref being a homer.

Jack picked up where he left off for England and continued to pull the strings while Walcott continued to work the keeper without finding the break-through. Finally, on 36 minutes, the goal arrived that we had deserved. A now trademark surge of pace from Jack taking 3-4 Sunderland players out of the game resulted in a lay off to Walcott who declined the chance to shoot and cushioned it off for Santi whose powerfull low shot finally broke the deadlock. It is as well that he scored otherwise I would imagine there would have been many agitated fans questioning why Walcott didn’t shoot himself.

cazorla sunderland

Refreshingly after the goal we continued to try and attack and kept a high tempo to our game, which I prefer as I don’t think we do killing a game off well. We continued in this way into the second half, but we weren’t having it all our own way and Sunderland threatened at times. Fortunately Szczesny started to replicate the form of Mignolet from the first half. Jack picked up an injury on 50 minutes and went off to be replaced by Diaby. It didn’t look too serious and we can only all hope that is the case.

Then came the pivotal moment when the tricky Sessegnon took on Jenks whose sliding tackle was a fraction from getting the ball and only suceeded in taking Sessegnon down. You knew what was coming immediately with the way the ref had been, and he showed the second yellow without even taking a moment to consider. In the cold light of day if you look at Jenkinson’s 2 yellows then independently they are both justifiable yellows. The problem again comes with the consistency and had we had a deserved free kick earlier in the game it maybe wouldn’t have led to the passage of play that saw Jenkinson get his first yellow.

Rasp and I had discussed a point after the first yellow earlier in the game, and had both agreed that there was a strong possibility that he would collect a second yellow and get sent off. I think MON exploited this and likely told Sessegnon at half time to get at Jenkinson. Should AW have forseen this and replaced him earlier? His options were limited as I believe Kos, who was on the subs bench, had a problem before the game when warming up. It would have left the only realistic option of Moving Sagna out to FB and bringing on Miquel at CB. Should AW have used this option?

We still had about half an hour to go and you knew it would be back to the walls stuff. Fortunately, for once, we did this well and ground out the result with the help of some world class saves from the big Pole. Even at this point we still showed some attacking intent and had some great opportunities on the counter-attack to get the respite of the second goal that my nerves and chewed to pieces nails deserved. Rasp had his head in his hands at times while Peaches was a picture of stoicism. I still think she was partially mesmerised from seeing Bobby Pires but at least by this time she had stopped being all giggly. It was great to see Goonermichael as well and he looked a picture of being cool calm and collected.

Rasp and I continued to fret like nervous wrecks and there was end to end chances in a frantic finale. Walcott hit the post after a great through ball from Cazorla while both Giroud and Cazorla had chances they put just over the bar.

We saw it out and as they say 3 points is 3 points and I was able to relax and reflect at an enjoyable day in the club class section of the Ems with some of the AA gang.

On to the ratings.

Szczesny 8.5 joint MOTM

Showed us the world class keeper we would all like him to consistently be. Solid throughout with some excellent reflex saves.

Jenkinson 5.5

I don’t want to be too harsh as I like Jenks and he always gives his all but some inexperience showed through today. He hasn’t had much game time and you wonder if this is affecting him because when he was playing regularly earlier in the season you didn’t feel he would make the mistakes we saw today. He will still become a good player for us.

Sagna 8

Deputised well at CB and the old Mr reliable was more on show today.

Mertesacker 7.5

Didn’t do too much wrong all game and it was a solid performance.

Nacho 7.5

Solid and unfussy game from our newest signing today

Arteta 7.5

Nothing spectacular but kept us ticking and I can’t remember any mistakes from him.

Ramsey 7

Was having a solid game and could have had a couple of goals, but he seems to have an error in him, and we were lucky not to be punished when he needlessly surrendered possession in a dangerous area.

Wilshere 8

Those trademark runs driving at the opposition defence are a joy to see and get me on the edge of my seat. It was from one of these that the break-through came. Fingers crossed the injury is not so bad but Jack probably needs a game off anyway. I almost had him as joint MOTM again and some may feel that to be the case.

Cazorla 8.5 and joint MOTM

There wasn’t much to choose between him and Jack but the goal and that he continued to be the creative force once Wilshere was off just saw him pip it for me.

Giroud 7

Could have had a couple. He wasn’t too bad but it didn’t really come off for him today.

Walcott 7.5

Also could have had a couple and was unlucky when hitting the post. He always made the keeper work and his instinctive link up play with his team-mates is getting better and better.

Diaby (for Wilshere 50 mins) 6.5

Nothing great but nothing bad either.

Miquel (for Walcott 87 mins)

Not enough time to really form an opinion.

Written by GoonerB

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

A Baptism of Fire?

February 2, 2013

Last time we played Stoke was early in the season, a 0-0 draw at the Britannia. I remember being disappointed by the draw but  more so by our inability to score. How different it is today …

Note the Nil for Stoke. A Nil. This shows that our defence was not breached; that a team of giants could not score from a cross into our goal area. It is now 6 PL games since our last defensive Nil. In those 6 games we have conceded 11 goals – almost 2 a game.

Yet, our Back 5 looks so solid on paper. Rasp has been saying since season’s start that our defence is the root cause of our inconsistency, a point of view hard to disagree with. My early thoughts were that with Steve Bould to educate and train them our back 5 could become the best for many season. BR  had faith in the skills of Santos and was happy with our LB situation.

How wrong was I?

But no fear …. Nacho to the rescue. Rarely will a player start a game under so much scrutiny. Is he the saviour? We shall see, but let us not judge Monreal on this afternoon’s performance; he will need time to bed in and The Orcs are a baptism of fire.

Unknown

Nacho Man

Stats: Stoke have only won one away game this season. They have scored 8 goals in 12 away games. They have not won for 5 games. Stoke have never won at THOF. They are Orcs.

Pulis (how I hate typing that word) has created the Volvo 760 of the football world. Big, ugly, efficient and does what other cars do but with far less panache. His brand of football takes the entertainment out of the game. And the supporters …… if they weren’t such a shower of  **** one would feel sorry for them. Not only having to live in a town which under any caring government would be demolished, but having to pay to watch a Volvo 760.

Unknown-1Stoke’s First Team Photo

An Arsenal stat: If the PL was based on halves, Arsenal would be 12th on first halves and 2nd to Man City on second halves. The solution is simple – give the lads some smelling salts prior to kick-off.

Todays team:  Arteta is close to a return but I wouldn’t risk him against The Orcs. Diaby or Ramsey? Ramsey for me – Chief Orc Shawcross is sure to receive his usual warm Emirates welcome.

Thinking about it, the pairing of Shawcross and Huth reminds me of this …

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We have been missing Ox for a few games now. It hurt to see him as an unused sub  on Weds night. We had 20 minutes to finish off an on-the-ropes Liverpool but AW chose not to attack; mistakenly in my view. Ox needs game time and I hope he gets at least 20 minutes today.

Runners & Riders:

arse v orcs

Todays Explorer: George Mallory (1886-1924). Another great Englishmen who deserves further investigation. Huge doubts arise about who was the first man to ascend Everest but recent theory suggest it was Mallory and not some New Zealander. One of the world’s foremost mountaineers he made a number of explorations of the Himalayas before attempting to climb it’s highest peak. When asked why he wanted to climb Everest he responded with 3 classic words, “Because it’s There”.

Mallory died on the ascent, but perhaps it was during the descent and herein lies the mystery – we will never know. Mallory’s body was found 75 years later.

Such was Mallory’s esteem that King George V,  the Prime Minister Ramsey Macdonald and all his cabinet  attended his memorial at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

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May have been one of Britain’s finest but … No Facial Hair, no Knighthood

February is traditionally a good month for The Arsenal. A win today would set up us nicely.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Hammers Hammered – Report & Player Ratings

January 24, 2013

Five fine goals, free-flowing football and freezing fans fully satisfied.

(Whoops. Sorry about the alliteration. That sentence has more Fs than the ladies’ toilets in an Essex nightclub on Saturday night).

He signed da ting!

He signed da ting!

It would be fair to say that many of us were nervous before the game.

Would the Arsenal who dominated Chelsea for the second half at Stamford Bridge turn up? Or the Arsenal that whimpered and wallied its way through the first half of the same game?

Our inconsistency has been consistent this season and we knew that we could not afford to be off our game against a physical, long ball West Ham managed by the Walrus.

Truth to tell, it was the line in BR’s pre-match about the Hammers having put in 56 crosses in their last game that really caused a clenching of the buttocks. Fifty-six crosses? Given our ability to concede a goal roughly to one in every two crosses into our box, we could be on for a 0 – 28 humiliation.

Thankfully it was the good Arsenal that turned up. Podolski and Ramsey were in the starting line-up in place of Diaby (ill) and Coquelin (injured). The back five was unchanged, Ramsey took up the DM position behind Wilshere and Cazorla. Giroud started through the middle with Podolski left and Walcott right.

We looked threatening and up for it right from the off and created several half chances before, inevitably, West Ham took the lead. The goal followed a couple of annoying officiating errors (a clear corner to us given as a goal kick to West Ham, a clear goal kick to us given as a corner to them).

The said corner came in and was headed clear only to fall at the feet of Collison, who slammed it into the net through a crowd of players from just outside the box. It was powerfully struck and Szczesny was probably partially unsighted, but just once I would like to see him save one of those. I had the same feeling about Mata’s goal last week. Difficult to save, but great ‘keepers get some of them.

Anyway, that’s enough carping for one report, because we refused to let our heads drop or feel sorry for ourselves and hit back just a few minutes later. Wilshere set up Podolski with a wonderful little dink of a pass and the German rifled it into the side netting from about 25 yards with all the venom of Big Bertha (the cannon, not the golf club).

pod goal

At half time it was 1-1. But I don’t think any of us were expecting what happened next.

If we had been pretty good in the first half, we started the second like demons. The lightning-fast, quick-passing, rapid-breaking football that Arsene Wenger patented at Arsenal was suddenly back.

The half had barely started when we were ahead. A corner on our left saw a slick move in which Mertesacker, having taken up a near post position, suddenly sprinted (alright, lumbered) back into the middle of the box and Giroud dashed to replace him. The BFG’s movement confused the Irons’ defence and Giroud was able to reach Walcott’s near post corner first, guiding the ball into the net beautifully off the outside of his boot.

girou

Are we working on corners in training? Or was it just good, intuitive play?

Six minutes later it was 3-1. A neat one-two between Podolski and Giroud led to the German squaring the ball to Cazorla in the six yard box. Santi’s cheeky back heel steered the ball into the net and brought joy and relief to the crowd.

Our attacks were coming in waves now. Fast forward a few minutes and Podolski was provider once again. We broke down the left. Podolski held the ball up intelligently to allow Giroud to stay on side, then fired a low cross right across the penalty area for a flying Walcott to drive home.

And our excellent Number 9 completed his hat trick of assists minutes later when another
low cross was steered into the net adroitly by Giroud (a much harder finish than it first looked).

At 5-1 we continued to attack with panache and probably should have added further to our goal tally. But better than that, we were outstanding on the rare occasions when we did NOT have the ball, pressing West Ham all over the park and forcing them into errors. It was a real template for how we should approach every game.

A serious injury to the Hammers’ Daniel Potts (he appeared to be accidentally caught in the face or head by Sagna) caused a 10 minute delay and although we continued to press hard afterwards, the sight of Potts being stretchered off seemed to suck a bit of the energy out of proceedings. Hopefully the lad is alright. He was applauded off the pitch by both sets of fans (Stoke City Orc Scum fans please take note).

In summary: a brilliant performance and win; the gap on the cave dwellers closed to just four points and, surely, a huge lift to everyone involved with the club moving forward.

Many of us have complained that, too often this season, we have been less than the sum of our parts. Last night our players showed how good they can be and they need to carry this attitude, arrogance and self-belief into the rest of the season.

Player Ratings

Szczesney: Good game but I would like to see him stop somebody’s screamer some time soon (I know GiE will immediately post clips of half a dozen breath taking saves he’s already made in this campaign). 7

Sagna: Still not the old Mr Reliable, but had a better game than he has recently. He seems to have lost all confidence in his ability to cross. 7

Mertesacker: Very solid and brought the ball forward well from the back. 7

Vermaelen: Tommy is slowly but steadily getting his game back together and he, too, was good last night. Despite West Ham being a typical Allardyce team more physically suited to basketball than football, they did not cause us too many problems in the air. 7.5

Gibbs: Super game from Kieran. Good at the back and a thorn in the Hammers’ side all night going forward. 8

Ramsey: Fine job in his preferred midfield role. Worked really hard, passed well and did tons of work off the ball. No Hammer enjoyed paying against him last night. 7.5

Santi-Cazorla: A busy bundle of tricks, took his goal stylishly and contributed greatly to the speed and fluidity of our movement. 8

Wilshere: Our new talisman. Drove us forward throughout the game despite, as usual, beng on the end of several fouls. His energy and inspiration is rubbing off on his team mates. 9 (joint MoTM).

Walcott: He signed da ting, now he’s delivering. He was brave and inventive and forced West Ham onto the back foot. Some wrong options on occasion but he never stopped trying. Took his goal well. 8

Podolski: Three assists and a rocket of a goal. When the Pod is up for it like this he must be terrifying to opposition defenders with his size, speed, strength and the sheer power of his shot, which reminds me of Charlie George. 9 (joint MoTM).

Giroud: Took his two goals brilliantly and had a good all round game, even if sometimes his understanding with team mates was a tad off. 7.5

Subs
Koscielny: Deputised well for Vermaelen who was removed as a precaution.
Santos: Nice to see Andre get a run out. He’s not as bad as his last outings would have you believe and it can only be good for the squad to have him back and fit.
Oxlade-Chamberlain: Full of running and tricks. Took shots a couple of times when he should have passed, but at 5-1 up who can blame him?

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Any Given Wednesday.

January 23, 2013

These games are coming too fast and the inevitable result is injuries. Today we are without Coquelin, Arteta, Rosicky, , Gervinho, probably Diaby and Uncle Tom Cobblee. Thankfully, Podolski and Ox should be fit for duty but there are no guarantees, which leaves the squad very thin especially on the bench

UnknownA thin Bench. (no good for FFBW-Nasri)

After 2 awful results we “welcome” a Fat Sam side with the sublime skills of Nolan, C. Cole, Tomkins, Noble, etc to the Emirates. It will be a tough, cold night for our heroes. West Ham have become a typical Walrus team. Power, pace, aggression but with no small amount of skill provided by Joe Cole and Matt Jarvis. On Saturday, West Ham sent over 56 crosses into QPR’s box – yes, 56!!  With Chamakh, Cole, Nolan and Carroll to choose from upfront there is no doubting the tactics.

How do Hammers fans feel about having the Football Academy turned into The Home of Hoofball – a Southern Stoke? Well, it appears they are very happy. Allardyce will take WHU to a mid-table position which is highly satisfactory even if the football is poor.

Or is it? If you could win the FA Cup but had to play hoofball would you be happy? For many the answer would be Yes.

If – huge If – we can start as we finished in our last two games we will win tonight, but we have been saying this for too log. Arsenal, for some reason, find the first 40 + minutes tough going. They cannot find their rhythm, their passing is poor, their man-marking non-existent, their forward play toothless; all in all , crap. But second half …….

Runners & Riders:

001b

Many are saying this is a vital game and that 3 points are an essential. I have to agree. A draw is not good enough. The absence of a physically powerful DM is hurting us, and tonight we should see a potential AW target in Diame. Diame will be hoping to put in a good performance, after all he must be desperate to play for Wenger rather than the Walrus.

Today’s explorer: David Thompson (1770-1857). This man is hardly remembered and yet is one of histories great explorers and land geographers. He mapped 3.9 million sq.miles of North America! Originally working with the Hudson Bay Company as a fur trade, he started by surveying the Great Lakes and then headed South. He was the first to complete the length of the Columbia river and surveyed much of North-West America. Thompson once walked from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. He had 13 surviving children and died of exhaustion in Montreal at the age of 86.

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Nice Hat.

So how should ARsenal approach this game? I would say with the knowledge that if the players underperform they will be told their parking bays have been withdrawn and they have to walk to the ground amongst the fans. We will let them know how important St. Totts day is. Maybe spending some time outside their bubble of luxury will spur them to come out the tunnel focussed and not in the land of fairies.

Get Steve Bould to give the pre-match motivational speech, or get back TA or TH or even better Al Pacino, but please lads, win tonight and win well.

Expect Jaaskalianen to give another brilliant performance.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Can Wenger teach tactics? Swansea preview.

January 16, 2013

What a strange season it has been and who can predict how it will end? Could we win the FA Cup? Why not, we have done it before and what is more, the last time was in Wales following a drawn game which must be a good portent.

We haven’t done very well against Swansea this season, have we? If ever there was proof of Rasp’s opinion that The Arsenal are not as good as the individual components of the team, those two games are it …. how many of the Swansea first team would get into AW’s starting eleven? Probably none, yet they outplay us because they have a better team ethic. Why should this be? Answers on a postcard to Emirates Stadium…..

That said, tonight is an opportunity to dampen the rising negativity with a handsome win. There are injuries (of course) but nothing too serious and we have our secret weapon back, you know the chap, that lanky fellow who looks like PV4, has some of his silky skills and vision but is as fragile as a €30 champagne glass (I didn’t mean to break it darling, it slipped out of my hand) and who tackles like blancmange. Diaby will start and will have a stormer.

The defence know about Michu, they know not to give him space. The midfield know they have to battle and work non-stop to compete with Swansea’s work ethic and the attack know movement and pace are the best way to unpick a quality Swansea defence.

We have all the weapons needed to win tonight but the over-riding and currently missing quality is teamwork. Victory Through Harmony, please.

Runners and Riders:

001a

Perhaps Ramsey will start ahead of the mighty Vassiriki Abou as he gave a very good cameo performance on Sunday, but AW loves the big man and will be desperate to give him pitch time. The only other question is whether AW will rest players ahead of the Chelsea game. Given that Dean is to referee at the Bridge, and that the FA Cup is our only realistic chance of silverware, I hope he plays his first choice 11.

The Laudrup as AW successor narrative will continue; here in Copenhagen the talk is of Laudrup returning to Real Madrid when Mourinho leaves at season’s end. I doubt this because he has yet to actually win anything as a manager. Laudrup has potential but you need more to take on the RM job. However, I can see him at Arsenal who require a  young manager committed to playing attacking football with a proper team ethic – much like Swansea.

A freezing day lends itself to warm weather explorers: William John Wills (1834-1861). Wills alongside Robert O’Hara Burke (1821-1861) became the first people to walk across Australia (South to North). The expedition took almost two years and was fraught with difficulties, they got lost, ran out of supplies  became ill, and on the return journey were saved by aborigines. Unfortunately (!), one of the expedition shot and injured an aborigine who then abandoned them. From that time their fate was sealed and both men died of  exhaustion and thiamin poisoning. Wills was just 27.

Such was the fame of the Burke & Wills expedition that both stamps and coins have been issued commemorating their adventure.

Unknown

The Full Set sported by Brave Men

We can and should win tonight. I will be looking for some tactical awareness from Mr Wenger’s team. This is an important match. A trip to the South Coast awaits.

Midweek night games in deep mid-winter are the best and I envy those lucky enough to attend. Shout us to Victory.

COYRRG

Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Home Kit 2013/4

December 1, 2012

Who would have though Swansea at home would be approached with some trepidation?  Not me and I guess not you either.

Have we cause for concern? Swansea play attacking football and at their own ground can be formidable, as we found out last season (3-2 loss). The bookies make us 4/9 favorites, so they think we will win but Swansea are on a fine run – just one loss in 9 games and they have just beaten WBA, no mean feat.

Cyberspace has been full of irate Gooners wanting “their Arsenal back” over the past week, a protest which will continue today with the BS March. Good luck to them if their protest results in a change of attitude at Board level but I fear the management will turn a deaf ear. Think Leveson Inquiry and David Cameron. There is no profit in change and until there is nothing will happen.

Unknown

Lord Leveson sporting next season’s home kit

It should be an exciting game this afternoon; two teams committed to attack. A Swansea side with Michu, Routlege, Hernandez and Dyer to test our defence and Theo etc enjoying the open spaces of the Emirates. Swansea are unlikely to parcio ar y bws (I once had a welsh wife). Thankfully Hernandez is injured – he has been in excellent form. Michu has scored 9 already this season. Dyer at 24 has finally grown up and looks dangerous; with the need for a new winger looming AW may be tempted.

Much is made on these shores of Michael Laudrup, he is football royalty. Alongside Schmeichel he is consider the best Danish footballer ever, and it should be recalled that in 2000 Spanish fans voted him the best foreigner ever to play in Spain which is some compliment . He has made a good start at Swansea, but  a brilliant footballer does not always make a brilliant manager (Bobby’s Charlton & Moore, Maradona, Pele, Gazza! etc). Time will tell but Micky has Laudrup as the next AFC manager and from a purely personal viewpoint I would be very happy with that (every AFC game would be shown here).

My Team:

arse v swans

My hope is that we go allout from the kick-off. If we play well for the first 20 and the final 20 we will win. The away tactic of playing Ramsey gives no assistance to Giroud, we need width to exploit his talents. No Ox in this lineup – perhaps AW will start him in place of Wilshere as JW started at Goodison.

I could bore you with stats and tactics and permutations but there are others who do it so much better.

Our unbeaten run has coincided with the stories of derring-do from English Explorer’s. Coincidence? I think not…… Today’s chap is Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) Dalton was a botanist and explorer. Charles Darwin’s best friend and Director of Kew Gardens. Places he explored are many – Antarctica, the Himalayas, Australia, India, Tibet, Palestine, Morocco, the Western USA, the list is extensive but then he did live a long time. An exceptional man in an era of brave,  remarkable men and a man who enjoyed the full benefits of extensive facial hair!

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A Lifelong Commitment to Facial Fuzz

This is a tough game and a severe test of our aspirations, a win will set us up for a Merry Xmas.. Come on Arsenal win it for SlimGingerGooner who today will enjoy his first trip to The Home of Football.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Virgin Sacrifice: I presume

November 2, 2012

There are games one anticipates with hope rather than confidence. You know the ones, the top 3 away and of late the trip to the Cave Dwellers. I have never enjoyed our games at the Old Toilet, we rarely do well and when we do it comes as a surprise – yes, we have had some wonderful wins and some sterling performances but on the whole we struggle. We have won once at OT in 10 years (PL) and just 3 times in 20 years.

Then there was last season’s freak humiliation. And before you Kent United fans get uppity, the 8 goals came from 14 shots on target. we had 9, you had 3 corners, AFC 5. A freak result which owed much to good fortune and a dreadful defensive performance from a patched up Arsenal – Traore and Jenks were our FB’s (CJ’s first PL game).

All football fans know that SAF signed a pact with the devil – the percentage of dodgy refereeing decisions and decades of outrageous good fortune are testament to his trip down to the Crossroads but last season the Oil money bought his luck. The Chavs shameful CL victory and MC’s last-second PL win must have shaken The Gorbals  Guzzler down to the tip of his steel toed boots. Having already sold his soul Ferguson is surely looking at other avenues to ensure his team’s dominance over the fickle fates….. see below

Sir Alex prepares for the game

Let’s get the unpleasant stuff out of the way early. Brave Sir Robin. An inspired purchase by SAF, a purchase which could win them the title. For us, a shambles of Titanic proportions. To BSR we are the lover scorned and he will pay the price whatever Mr Wenger says.

What can we expect of today? None of the MU players who conceded 5 (as we did!) midweek will start, as such, Scholes, Cleverly and Carrick will be doing their best to cripple Santi and Jack.  Their defence is said to be shaky but whose wouldn’t given their injuries at CB ? We can but hope that SAF has a meltdown and includes Wooton.

It goes without saying that MU sport some of the most odious men playing today. Evra, Rooney, Nani, Rafael, Ferdinand , Anderson, Fletcher, Young – all  beetle headed baculum (look it up!). I hesitate to put Ashley Young amongst these miscreants but despite being a Gooner, if the cap fits…..

I expect Mr Wenger to take a conservative view; he will not want his team humiliated again – if last season was tough for us, imagine how it was for him.

My Team:

I fully expect to see both Arshavin and Walcott at some point, especially Theo after his fine performance at Reading. But today we will need solidity, should we reach the hour point on level terms I hope AW will bolster the attack.

Much focus will be upon the performance of Jack Wilshire. So much riding upon his stocky frame and the strength of his ankles. If he returns to the form of two seasons ago this Arsenal team will be very, very strong. It is one thing to close down Cazorla with 2 players but having another creative genius allows Arsenal to continue to threaten. We must pray that the referee (Mike Dean – the world is watching) will protect him because you know SAF will be telling his miscreants to kick two colours out of young Jack

It is a great shame Diaby is not fit as this would be his type of game, we will miss Gibbs as well because it is inevitable SAF will target Santos.

This is a game which George Graham would have relished; put the Famous 5 in place of the current back 5 and we would stand a much better chance. Actually, scratch that ….. put Seaman into this team and it would be transformed. The stats show we have conceded just 6 PL goals which is astonishing given our goalkeeping frailty; it is a testament to a team ethic. But and this is a huge BUT, no team wins things without a top goalkeeper and we are lacking. Let us pray to Dennis that AW has a proper GK in his sights this January – watching Julio Cesar perform heroics for QPR last week made me wonder why he wasn’t in our goal.

Today’s Top Man:  I promised you David Livingstone (1813 – 1873) and here he is in all his pomp and glory:

No Beard – Not Knighted

A Scottish Protestant Missionary, he was the first white man to cross Africa. He also tried to find the source of the Zambezi, a 6 year expedition during which he “discovered”/named Victoria Falls and Lake Malawi. He then traveled into the East African jungle where he got “lost” for 4 years. Such was Livingstone’s fame that the New York Herald sent out Henry Stanley to find him. They met on the shores of Lake Tanganyika with Stanley humorously greeting him with the famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.”  Livingstone died in Africa (malaria), his heart was buried in Zambia, and his body brought back to England where it was buried in Westminster Cathedral

BR doesn’t make predictions but he would be thrilled with a point and promises to buy Mrs Raddy something expensive should when we win.

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Narch. Letsbe Avingham.

October 20, 2012

Thank Dennis for that – it’s over .Two weeks of unrelenting football withdrawal. Cold turkey is over and we get our fix this afternoon.

Last time we played the Canaries it was  a roller coaster game at THOF in May; we went one up after 65 seconds, 2-1 down after 30 minutes, 3-2 up and finally allowed Norwich to equalise in the 85th minute. Some bloke scored two for us. Narch played very well but times have changed for the East Anglians, they sit just one point above the dismal QPR having a minus 12 goal difference and only 3 points from 7 games. They have yet to win at home.

History shows we have not lost at Carrow Rd since 1984, however 7 of the last 12 games have been draws.

Norwich: Let us start with their manager. People say (and this includes many Arsenal people) that Chris Hughton is a decent bloke. ……. . Decent Bloke? Which decent bloke plays 300 times for the blue-bellied sheep biters? The man is devil-spawn and guaranteed to take this lovely family club down with the Rangers.  Hughton is so average that Alan Pardew took his job! Nothing more needs saying. Don’t believe me? Check out his record since leaving Newcastle ….. Played 12  won none. And he has a carrot shaped head.

What of his team of flatlanders? Are they a bunch of decent pro’s doing the best for their families and playing honest, open football? 5 goals scored in 7 games tells a story. With just two yellow cards all season it must be said that Norwich are not a team who intimidate their opponents.

Ugly as a Dropped Pie

Who plays for the lovely historic town of Norwich? Well, there is a smattering of ex-miscreants – Bassong & Kane, England’s 3rd choice Mr Ruddy, the hideous but dangerous Grant Holt (sounds like a train station …. two returns to Grant Holt, please). Steve Morison is Holt’s forward partner, born in Enfield plays for Wales and  has a boy named Fenton . The defender Russell Martin was born in Brighton and represents Scotland.  Alan Smith says Wes Hoolahan is a player to watch – if he plays he is a second striker.

Arsenal: We are unbeaten away, scoring freely and defending well (apart from a few set play blips). 7th doesn’t reflect how well we are playing  or how the new boys are adapting to life in the PL.

We have 5 ever present players in the league. Can you guess who they are (without checking)?

The Internationals cost us 2 players, both Theo and Kos are out. Fabianski is out for a few more months. The defence picks itself.

My Team:

Once again, we have a strong bench though Coquelin is out.

Gervinho will be important this afternoon as he seeks to continue his scoring run; his pace and trickery will be of great concern to the Norwich defence. Let us hope he has not been too traumatised by the events in Senegal. I include Ramsey but if Diaby is available he would be the first choice.

Podolski has been a revelation in his attitude to hard work; he has a Mercedes Diesel engine. His ability to drop back and bolster the the left side of defence has allowed us to be very strong in midfield and it is here that we will win the game. I expect Norwich to try and flood the midfield – perhaps not zaparkowac autobus – but nonetheless defend deep. They are at home and surely have to try to entertain and take 3 points.

Further to my shock revelation that there is no way Jack Wilshere will play even a minute today, there is rumour he is in the squad. To play him would be a mistake. AW says he is only 80%, so what is the point?

Whilst you are munching through your cornflakes, let me tell you about the chap below because we like a British hero and fellow certainly fits the bill.

Sir Samuel Baker (great grandfather to Arsenal’s Joe).What this chap did in his lifetime is astonishing. He discovered  Uganda and named Lake Albert, searched for the source of the Nile, was a big game hunter, a fellow of every society known to man, explored on all the continents, was a friend of Edward v11, became Pasha of Egypt, and was a fervent anti-slavery campaigner. He would surely have been a Gooner but died too early.  All this and a fine Beardsman.

An important 3 points today (Yes – I know – they all are). We have to punish teams at the opposite end of the table , we didn’t last season and almost paid the price. There can be little question that Arsenal are the better team, there is only one Norwich player who would get in our squad, let alone our first team (Ruddy). The bookies are expecting us to win at Carrow Rd (odds 4/7)  and as they say, you never see a poor bookie.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

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