Written by Total Arsenal

Due to a recent spell of bad results in the Premier League and the relentless complaining of our fans, we are now looking for a new Manager.

During the reign of Arsène Wenger, Arsenal won three League Championships, Four FA Cups, achieved the cult-status of the Invincibles for a 49-games spell of not getting beat, reached the CL final, played in the CL for 14 consecutive seasons, played a brand of football envied all over the world, and moved successfully to a brand new stadium, whilst keeping the club in a healthy financial position.

Written by Illybongani

Much has been said about the perceived success (or lack of it), of Wenger's ‘Project Youth', particularly since the move to the Emirates. Arsenal Football Club are now seen as standard bearers in the development of young professional footballers. But is this accolade warranted or is it a misnomer?

Written by Illybongani

Much has been said about the perceived success (or lack of it), of Wenger's ‘Project Youth', particularly since the move to the Emirates. Arsenal Football Club are now seen as standard bearers in the development of young professional footballers. But is this accolade warranted or is it a misnomer?

Football blogs serve one important function and that is to provide an escape valve for supporters to vent their angst and boy have we had cause of late. Such is the need to let off steam that AA has been flooded with with contributors wishing to exorcise their footballing demons. Today we publish the thoughts of 2 new writers who are Arsenal to the core and through their own words have reached the same upbeat conclusion as to our prospects this season.

Cristiano Ronaldo: Tested To The Limit - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

In an innovative documentary, Castrol pushed Cristiano Ronaldo to the limit in a series of tests designed to measure Ronaldo's footballing skills, strength, agility and mental toughness.

It is arguably the most rigourous scientific examination of a football player ever taken as Ronaldo (a Castrol global ambassador) is literally tested to the limit our inside sources told us of how, after several hours of grueling tests, Ronaldo was almost ready to collapse from fatigue but still managed to put in 110% in every single test he was presented with.

A recent blog on the AA website called 'Project Youth-fact or fiction?' (great write Illybongani) got me thinking about the direction that Arsenal has been heading in the last 6 trophyless years and also the grief that Arsène Wenger has had to endure. Fans seem to be divided into 2 opinions.

Scouting, statistics and rice: the rise and fall of Arsène Wenger - FT.com: I don't think any of the themes about Arsene Wenger that Simon Kuper covers in this article will surprise any of the readers of this blog. I'm mostly posting this link (free sign-up required) because one of the most (the most?

Having missed the opportunity to ensnare London or 26may to write a match report I'm shamelessly using their comments from after the game and adding a few of my own.

Like many I was looking forward to seeing Oxlade-Chamberlain, Park and Ryo in addition to other well-known young guns show off their silky skills.

Written by Herb'sArmy

For most of us on AA, it is impossible to separate our emotions from our club, the two are intrinsically linked. It's probably fair to say that whilst both games caused a lot of pain, the Blackburn game probably wounded us deeper than the one at OT, if only because of the expectation.

If there is one image that defines the revival that Arsenal are about to embark on, it's this one:

There were many positives to take from our dispatching of Bolton Wanderers on Saturday but, for me, this was the one that really counted.

Robin van Persie, mobbed by a herd of Bolton spongiforms, didn't give an inch.

That was a very strange few days. We spend years carefully, slowly building squads, with obscure players brought in from far and wide, punctuated with highly profitable sales. This modus operandi became familiar to all of us. But in this transfer window, that has all been ripped up, culminating in an insane final evening yesterday.

So, the unmistakeable chimes of Big Ben bring the craziest few months an Arsenal fan has ever had to endure to a close. We have lost our club captain, we have lost last seasons best player, and we have been humiliated 8-2 by Man United, yet, with that big bell still ringing in my ear (insert your own joke!

Written by Camberwell Gooner

And so we find ourselves in the second week of the Interlull (copyright Arseblog.com), with entire days stretching ahead of us before we can get our teeth into our shiny new signings and, er, find out what they taste like. During this prison sentence we are forced to contend with the twin ills of a lack of real football (apologies to genuine fans of internationals – they just don't count for me, someone usually comes back injured, England are crap, and then when they play well I have to look at pictures of that genetic-experiment-to-fuse-Mr-Potato-Head-and-The-Elephant-Man (gone wrong), Rooney, flashing his horrible grin at a camera – word to the wise, Granny Shagger: you should have left the hair alone and spent your thousands down the orthodontist's) and a dearth of news (meaning precious little to get the juices running and stimulate thought or debate).

Written by VCC

Before you read on, VCC wanted to include the following track in the post so please click Gooner Day to listen unless you're being naughty at work that is

Its 3 pm Saturday 10th September 2011. We welcome Swansea City to the Emirates for our second home fixture.

Written by VCC

Before you read on, VCC wanted to include the following track in the post so please click Gooner Day to listen unless you're being naughty at work that is

Its 3 pm Saturday 10th September 2011. We welcome Swansea City to the Emirates for our second home fixture.

Written by VCC

Before you read on, VCC wanted to include the following track in the post so please click Gooner Day to listen unless you're being naughty at work that is

Its 3 pm Saturday 10th September 2011. We welcome Swansea City to the Emirates for our second home fixture.

Written by VCC

Before you read on, VCC wanted to include the following track in the post so please click Gooner Day to listen unless you're being naughty at work that is

Its 3 pm Saturday 10th September 2011. We welcome Swansea City to the Emirates for our second home fixture.

The season starts here. The Boss said so? No, the season started at Newcastle and we have one point out of nine, that's right, one out of nine. Our worst start since Alex James took a drag from his Woodbine prior to walking onto the Highbury turf (perhaps).

Thankfully much has changed since OT and quite frankly it needed to.

The season starts here. The Boss said so? No, the season started at Newcastle and we have one point out of nine, that's right, one out of nine. Our worst start since Alex James took a drag from his Woodbine prior to walking onto the Highbury turf (perhaps).

Thankfully much has changed since OT and quite frankly it needed to.

Arteta – Bright Start but faded.....

Its September 10th, a New dawn, new beginnings, from the ashes of Project Y'sssh and the dishevelled remains of a team that faced the Old Trafford onslaught, it was Wengers regrouped band of footballers with a significant number of new recruits, grabbed on the supermarket trolley dash on 31st August, who took to the field, ready to drag Arsenal back to the upper echelons of the premier league.

Amidst all the fun of making up our fantasy teams for the new look Arsenal, one name has been conspicuous by its absence: Abou Diaby.

It's understandable in a way: we have lots of shiny new names to play with in our hypothetical formations.

Do Artex and Benny Yoon displace Li'l Jack and Aaron when all are fit?

You'll never Walk Alone has always been my favourite football anthem, it reminds me of the wonderful Liverpool teams of the 60′s/70′s and Bill Shankly and the Kop and black and white TV and my first visit to Anfield. It is THE football anthem. Why am I writing about YNWA? Well, because it is Borussia Dortmund's anthem, and I have a feeling that with 80,000 Germans singing and cheering on their young and extremely talented side our boys in Red are going to be feeling very alone.

Written by Gooner in Exile

A trip to the German Champions in their mighty fortress was always going to be a difficult game. We went with a team that is still getting to know each other's first names so the writing was on the wall and every pundit pre match was predicting we would be lucky to escape with a draw.

Blackburn – Arsenal: 4-3

Match Report

Written by Total Arsenal

Today we saw once again the two Arsenals we got to know so well in recent years: the one that dominates proceedings and scores great goals through wonderful football, and the one that cannot defend properly.

Blackburn – Arsenal: 4-3

Match Report

Written by Total Arsenal

Today we saw once again the two Arsenals we got to know so well in recent years: the one that dominates proceedings and scores great goals through wonderful football, and the one that cannot defend properly.

Have scum put a curse on the Emirates?

I was told this story some time ago but have never passed it on because, well, frankly, I didn't give it much credence.

It came from a relative who worked on the demolition of Highbury and the construction of the Emirates.

He is not a football fan and has no axe to grind as far as the Arsenal is concerned.

What could be better than a chance to see our new players added to a sprinkling of youth play a decent footballing side from a lower division in a Cup game? Ok, you are right, lots of things ..... but such a spectacle is interesting, isn't it? I know that if I had the opportunity I would be meeting up with the splendid AA possee prior to cheering my team to victory.

Paul Doyle of the Guardian writes of the job security for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal's chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, has delivered a rousing defence of the club's manager, Arsène Wenger, insisting suggestions that the Frenchman's methods no longer suit the modern game and that his position is under threat are "nonsense".

Written by FatGingerGooner

So the dust has settled on a couple of dreadful Arsenal away results, and equally dreadful defensive displays. Obviously, I'm talking about the 8-2 and 4-3 defeats. There have been a lot of people coming out of the woodwork in recent days, using these results as ammunition to have a pop at the manager and also to give their opinion on the direction this club needs to go.

Arsenal 3-0 Bolton

Written by Jamie

I can remember as a kid being on holiday. After two days of solid rain suddenly the morning gave way to a raft of sunshine. My Grandfather walked down to the steps to the swimming pool with a cool drink and Dinah Washington's seminal hit "What a Difference a Day Makes" soothing the hot air.

Written by Total Arsenal

Due to a recent spell of bad results in the Premier League and the relentless complaining of our fans, we are now looking for a new Manager.

During the reign of Arsène Wenger, Arsenal won three League Championships, Four FA Cups, achieved the cult-status of the Invincibles for a 49-games spell of not getting beat, reached the CL final, played in the CL for 14 consecutive seasons, played a brand of football envied all over the world, and moved successfully to a brand new stadium, whilst keeping the club in a healthy financial position.

We won. Chelsea didn't. Man City didn't. Man United didn't. We did, and that's the important bit, especially bearing in mind that we had nine injured players and (with the North London Derby coming up) only five genuine first choice players were in the starting XI.

The performance wasn't the best, but neither was it the worst.