This Boxing Day was a great one for Arsenal and a fun time for me. Hope you had a joyful
Christmas too. Apologies for the lateness of this post but the whole weekend was just so enjoyable
and engaging, I couldn't find any time before now. Well, I did find some time but then Sachin came
on to bat and took up the best part of the last two hours.
Morning all,
let's start with early team news ahead of tomorrow's trip to Wigan and nobody who played on
Tuesday is added to the sicklist, but Tomas Rosicky remains out with a thigh knack while Abou Diaby
will miss 10 days with 'a slight muscular problem'.
Obviously I don't think anybody is surprised by that but Diaby now seems to be caught in an
infinite loop of injury.
Something rather remarkable happened on Tuesday night. Did you spot it?
No, I don't mean the FFB (Fat French Benchwarmer) peeing his sky blue pants (size XL) at the
very sight of Emmanuel Frimpong.
Nor do I mean two rookie Arsenal midfielders with the amusing acronym of "CoqPong" completely
dominating the expensively acquired internationals in the Abu Dhabi City line-up.
Something rather remarkable happened on Tuesday night. Did you spot it?
No, I don't mean the FFB (Fat French Benchwarmer) peeing his sky blue pants (size XL) at the
very sight of Emmanuel Frimpong.
Nor do I mean two rookie Arsenal midfielders with the amusing acronym of "CoqPong" completely
dominating the expensively acquired internationals in the Abu Dhabi City line-up.
Morning all,
the Wigan win and performance at the weekend was just the tonic after a week in which we'd
stumbled a little bit, and confidence will be high as we prepare for a trip to Greece to face
Olympiacos. Not all the players who played on Saturday will be making the trip, obviously, as the
manager has a chance to rest some legs and keep players fresh for the Premier League.
Arsenal are visiting Greece for the final group game with top spot secured. Such games can
easily become an unwanted, tiresome chore but they can also be an opportunity for the some of the
players to show what they are capable of with a chance to perform in a pressure-free
environment.
Of course, we don't want the team to be frivolous and roll over but I feel the squad that Wenger
has taken to Olympiacos is full of professionals who respect the badge on their shirt and the
game/competition.
Winter is stupid. Why do we tolerate it? It's the John Terry of seasons. And I don't mean simply
because it tries to make everything white.
I had the alarm chill problem this morning. The alarm went off. I stuck my hand out for another
9 minutes of blissful snooze which made me feel the chill in the air which made me want to not get
up.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
From almost out of the UEFA Champions League to topping Group E, it's been a crazy first
campaign for Chelsea manager Andres Villas-Boas.
Talks of crisis at Stamford Bridge seem to be dissipating after Chelsea routed Valencia 3-0 to
advance to the knockout round for the ninth consecutive season.
And so the conjecture continues. No, no, not speculative tittle-tattle focused on which new
wunderkind recruits are coming to the Arsenal in the January transfer window, I am talking about
where we will tour next summer. Granted, it is still supposition but anything to turn our
attentions from the endless stories linking us with the world and his wife (as well as those poor
unfortunates heading for the Emirates exit).
And so the conjecture continues. No, no, not speculative tittle-tattle focused on which new
wunderkind recruits are coming to the Arsenal in the January transfer window, I am talking about
where we will tour next summer. Granted, it is still supposition but anything to turn our
attentions from the endless stories linking us with the world and his wife (as well as those poor
unfortunates heading for the Emirates exit).
The FA hates Liverpool, but the feeling's probably mutual. Dirk Kuyt can score, or at least he
used to be able to. And hey, I've got something to show you. Right over here. That's right, don't
be frightened...
* Are you English? Are you too young to drive? Can you kick a football?
Morning all,
plague update: I think it's now mutated into some kind of ebola-esque virus which is eating my
innards and will leave me a bloody, gloopy mess on my floor. Alternatively, I've got a nasty head
cold. One or the other. But either way it's not pleasant and I blame Michael O'Leary.
Ever since the departure of Fabregas and the long-term injury to Wilshire, I have been trying to
figure out how the ‘New Arsenal' will play this season. For quite a while I was convinced Arsène
wanted to continue with his 4-2-3-1 formation of the previous seasons, and as such, he was trying
to get Ramsey to play in the Fabregas position/role, with Song in the more traditional DM role and
Arteta in the box-to-box ‘Wilshere' role which is effectively a second DM (most of the
times).
Ever since the departure of Fabregas and the long-term injury to Wilshire, I have been trying to
figure out how the ‘New Arsenal' will play this season. For quite a while I was convinced Arsène
wanted to continue with his 4-2-3-1 formation of the previous seasons, and as such, he was trying
to get Ramsey to play in the Fabregas position/role, with Song in the more traditional DM role and
Arteta in the box-to-box ‘Wilshere' role which is effectively a second DM (most of the
times).
By Alan Duffy
Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal Premier League 18th December 2011
Shorn of all four full-backs in their squad, it was always going to be a difficult task facing
Arsenal as they headed to the Etihad Stadium.
Click here to view the embedded video.
via futbolita.
There's been a dearth of Adorkable activity on this site since Arsene Wenger put Project Kidling
on the backburner in favour of pursuing trophies. Now that that's over, Theo Walcott, Wojciech
Szczęsny and Bacary Sagna have been given special dispensation to don antlers and shiny red noses
for this clip.
Match report Video and highlights -
There was nothing more important than taking three points last night. A good performance is
always welcome, but winning after playing some way below par is also welcome. Winning after playing
some way below par and very late in the game against a team managed by Alex McLeish, is more
welcome than Johnny Beer and Fred Rum around my house.
This is another in my series of classic Christmas carols, it is obviously to the tune of the
'twelve days of christmas', obviously repeat the lines as in the original version: On the first day
of Christmas Piers Morgan gave to me, a call for Arsene's sacking, On the second day of Christmas
Piers Morgan gave to me, two Beeb self humiliations, On the third day of Christmas Piers Morgan
This Boxing Day was a great one for Arsenal and a fun time for me. Hope you had a joyful
Christmas too. Apologies for the lateness of this post but the whole weekend was just so enjoyable
and engaging, I couldn't find any time before now. Well, I did find some time but then Sachin came
on to bat and took up the best part of the last two hours.
A frustrated Arsene Wenger saw his Arsenal team fail to capitalise on their rivals dropping points,
despite being 1-0 up against Wolves just 8 minutes into the match. Yet again, Arsenal have allowed
a lesser team back into the game after taking a lead, and Wenger lamented that they couldn't put
the game to bed [.
So we lost two valuable home-points today against lowly placed Wolves, and now we are all
feeling down?
Man City drew against West Brom and Liverpool could not kill off Blackburn yesterday, and
neither could Chelsea see-off Fulham. I am as disappointed as anybody for dropping two points
against Wolves at home.
Well, what an incredibly frustrating ninety minutes that was. Upbeat start, good goal, cavalier
flicks, lucky equaliser, chances, chances, CHANCES, saves, saves, more ruddy saves and Wolves rode
their luck to a first point against Arsenal in the Premier League era. You couldn't fault the
team's effort, apart from a slight easing off in the first half, and I agree with Arsene when he
says that we would have won this game 19 times out of 20.
