Good Player Guide #14 Javier Pastore is a post from: Just Football

Javier Pastore
(Palermo / Argentina)

He has been described as "a phenomenon" by Javier Zanetti and "somebody who will one day win the Golden Ball" by his president at Palermo, and offers are already trickling in from the world's elite clubs.

By Chris Wright

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has admitted that it was his side's repeated failure to 'rise to the occassion' that saw them lose out 1-0 to Manchester United last Monday:

"The difference on the night (against United) was that we were scared of losing but they were not scared of winning.

Having his season plagued by plenty injuries, Arsenal's captain, Cesc Fabregas is reportedly set to get back into action on the Gunners' upcoming big match against Manchester United next weekend.

The Spaniard revealed that his recovery process in going into the right direction and targeting the clash with United as the match he can make his comeback again.

Arsenal's defeat against Manchester United last Monday left a bitter taste for the Gunners' players as the lost once gain gave them a bad records against big teams this season following previous failure against Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspurs.

One of the reasons that many believes caused Arsene Wenger's side failure in big games is their inability to play other style aside from their fast-flowing football, this problem has also been recognized by one of their current star, Samir Nasri.

Much has been made of Arsenal's inability to win the big games, and how it may be the undoing of their title challenge. So after Monday night's defeat at Old Trafford, and with the boxing day visit of Chelsea to come, should Arsenal be looking towards the Carling Cup as their only hope of silverware?

Not today Drog

If you're wondering about the title, it is a reference to my yesterday's preview on why Arsenal need to beat Chelsea. Nothing about maintaining the gap to Manchester United, nothing about overcoming our recent bout of dire results against them and certainly nothing about shutting John Terry up.

So Arsenal have drawn Ipswich for the Carling Cup semifinals. You know, their manager looks awfully familiar to me.....

Oh that's right, it's our old friend Roy Keane! Perhaps Paddy could drive over from Manchester for a friendly reunion. Arsenal will face Ipswich Town at Portman Road on January 10th while West Ham host Birmingham in the other semifinal match the same day.

*The nation's leading scorer, South Bay native Christen Press, leads Stanford against Boston College (3:30 p.m. ESPNU), while the other NCAA semifinal, Ohio State-Notre Dame, precedes the game at 1 p.m. on ESPN2. The final is 9 a.m. Sunday on ESPN2.

More on the goal scoring exploits of Press from our sister newspaper the San Jose Mercury News is here.

The two big stories in last week's football revolved around the el Clasico clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid and FIFA deciding on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup host countries and these stories feature in the Good the Bad and Ugly review section of the show. We also try to predict who will come out on top in some of the big games in our weekly predictions three from Europe and three from South America.

Just a quick Monday news round up for you all. I know that many of you, like me, are still reeling from the exquisite Nasri goals this weekend. Here's what Super Samir had to say about it:

You can tell by the way he speaks about his performance that he is self-aware and possesses an intelligence that is shining through on the pitch.

When you're having a discussion mid match as to whether the skittish birds circling and swooping at the Grove are plovers or wagtails, you can safely assume that the fayre being served up on the pitch does not match the tucker promised on the menu.

Contenders or pretenders? On Wednesday night's evidence we are frankly none the wiser.

I feel sorry for people in Europe. There football gossip spins around which player is going where, which player is shagging whose missus and which coach is going to get the sack next. Dull and predictable stuff.

Not here though. Oh no, there's so much nonsense going on, usually in dimly lit smoke filled rooms, that, if it were made into a movie, would be considered so over the top it would be a guaranteed flop.

Normally on a Friday we're looking forward to the game tomorrow, or Sunday at the latest. Having to wait until Monday evening seems a bit rubbish to me but television has decided.

It means there'll be lots of time to think about the team and who might be fit. Obviously the main issue is over Cesc.

The big story this week is all about the World Cup hosting decision. This story features in the main reportreview section of the show. We also try to predict who will come out on top in some of the big games in our weekly predictions. For more football news come to our site, read the posts, listen to our main reports and check out our links section.

Welcome to the ninth issue of The Red Report, the round table discussion of all things Manchester United by your favourite United blogs: The Busby Way, Stretford-End, Bangalore To Old Trafford, ManUtd24, United Youth, and Red Force Rising.

This week we discuss Twitter's favourite English footballer, Rio Ferdinand; consider how Gabriel Obertan is progressing and we reflect on Champions League qualification.

Its is a rivalry that has simmered over in recent years comes right back to boiling point this evening at Old Trafford as Manchester United take on Arsenal in the Premier League.

A battle that would have been first against second is now first versus third after Manchester's other team decided to move themselves joint top alongside Arsenal.

Park Ji-sung ensured the visiting Chilean miners were able to celebrate a Manchester United victory over Arsenal on their momentous visit to Old Trafford.
MATCH SUMMARY
Man of the Match: Nemanja Vidic. The Serbian nullified Arsenal's main attacking threat in Marouane Chamakh and prevented the Moroccan from tucking home a shot in the first half.

Park Ji-sung ensured the visiting Chilean miners were able to celebrate a Manchester United victory over Arsenal on their momentous visit to Old Trafford.
MATCH SUMMARY
Man of the Match: Nemanja Vidic. The Serbian nullified Arsenal's main attacking threat in Marouane Chamakh and prevented the Moroccan from tucking home a shot in the first half.

Ji-Sung Park once again sunk Arsenal as Manchester United went back to the top of the Premier League. Park's fourth goal in seven starts against the Gunners decided the Old Trafford showdown.

Park plays in all the big games for United and they will miss him when he heads off to the Asian Cup in Qatar after the Boxing Day fixture with Sunderland.

Ji-Sung Park once again sunk Arsenal as Manchester United went back to the top of the Premier League. Park's fourth goal in seven starts against the Gunners decided the Old Trafford showdown.

Park plays in all the big games for United and they will miss him when he heads off to the Asian Cup in Qatar after the Boxing Day fixture with Sunderland.

Just Arsenal has yet another Guest Post this morning and this time it's from an Australian Gooner. David believes that after sooooo many consistently inadequate losses in the big games, it is time for Wenger and the Arsenal Board to face up to the deficiencies in the team.......... Lack of Success a Cancer on the Club After [.

It's the question of the moment, isn't it? Manuel Almunia came into the season as our # 1 keeper, then, depending on what you believe, either got injured or got benched. Lukasz Fabianski came in and has performed very admirably, making a number of top-class saves that have kept us in some big games.

BVB Fans Won't Be Having Anymore European Nights, But That Sacrifice Could Come With A Great Reward.

Borussia Dortmund's Europa League form this season left much to be desired, especially since the club's domestic performances have been nothing short of incredible. BVB only managed to win two of their six group matches and picked up a mediocre nine points, which in the end was a few too short of what was required to qualify for the next round.

Ahead of Manchester United's game against Arsenal, Patrice Evra claimed our opponents were in crisis, after going over half a decade without any silverware. Considering United haven't gone longer than one season without a trophy since Sir Alex Won his first in 1990, 20 years ago, it's hard to argue with what Evra is saying.

Top Brass
It wasn't all fine wines and canopies at last nights NOPA awards. In between hobnobbing with Barry Glendenning, the chaps from the Football Ramble, Zonal Marking, Swiss Ramble and virtually all of Twitter, I managed to grab a few words with European football freelancer, Andy Brassell.

By Chris Wright

Manchester United's unofficial PR rep Patrice Evra feels that his call to write Arsenal off as a 'training centre' before the two sides met on Monday has been completely vindicated by the Gunners' sallow performance thereafter.

I think we all know what to expect from Manchester United these days. A team that works hard for each other and for their Manager. What you see is what you get and I still firmly believe that if you finish above Manchester United you will win the League.
Fergie has had a pop at Chelsea this morning as posted by me earlier, but stepping away from my Blue Blinkered glasses for a moment you have to agree that in certain essential positions he has a point about his side having experience and of that there is no question.

Arsenal's abysmal record against the top teams have cost us trophies. Many of you know that we have struggled recently to deliver the winning result when it really matters against the top teams. Arsenal won their last major trophy in the season ending 2005 which is now five and half years ago. We have been close [.

The fact is that Arsenal lose big games. This is not an exaggeration. It's not painting lipstick on a pig, either. Les Gooners lose when they're up against Manchester United or Chelsea. Having lost eleven and drawn one of their last twelve encounters, it's an indisputable fact. Even more stinging is this season's loss to their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

The next round of the Champions League is drawn in the usual, predictable, yawn inspiring fashion in Switzerland tomorrow morning.

Snow disruptions could yet liven up proceedings. Although I make no promises.

So we have a 50/50 shot at drawing a Spanish giant, I think we have time on our hands before the end of Feb, Mid March 2011 to get ready for a 2 legged battle against the Madrid Mob headed up by twatman.

This week, as every week, there have been so many headlines Tevez is unhappy at Manchester City, Sam Allardyce was sacked at Blackburn, Estudiantes de la Plata win the Apertura crown in Argentina and an African team, TP Mazembe, make the finals of the Club World Cup. Check out languagecaster.

The winter chill continues, games tumbling by the wayside like Scotland's co-efficient points. Only two matches set to survive in the SPL. Thankfully one of them is the game of the day.
Hearts v InvernessScottish football's irresistible force meets our immovable object. Or something. Hearts have won six out of six.

Season's have their turning points, and I have a feeling that today was a crucial one. We saw Inter Milan rise back to form with a 3-0 win over TP Mazembe in the FIFA World Club Cup final, and we saw AC Milan fall to Roma at the San Siro, 1-0 for the giallorossi thanks to former AC Milan player, Marco Borriello.

Welcome to the tenth issue of The Red Report, the round table discussion of all things Manchester United by your favourite United blogs: The Busby Way, Stretford-End, Bangalore To Old Trafford, ManUtd24, United Youth, and Red Force Rising.

With Christmas less than a week away can we'd like to take this opportunity to wish our readers a very merry Christmas.

Cesc Fabregas has revealed that Arsenal are lacking the right mentality to win the big games. So far this season they have lost to United, Chelsea and Spurs, leaving their captain believing it is their fear of losing which is effecting them.

"They were more aggressive than us," Fábregas said.

It is -9 in Dublin right now. I can't tell you how much this displeases me.

I really, really fail to see the point of -9. Like war, and the county of Leitrim, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Good god. Oh yeah. And such. And not a bit of football to warm us up until next Monday. It's like an enforced Interlull but without the bits where our players go away and come back all broken up in various pieces.

Lots of big football news despite the snow causing havoc in the UK last weekend. Tevez decides to stay but City fail to go top, Inter are champions of the world but Barca are really much better than them! Check out languagecaster.com's review section to read more about the footballing news. We also try to predict who will come out on top in some of the big games in our weekly predictions.

Dominating possession, the lion's share of corners and attempts at goal but with nothing to show for it. Then a weakness in the face of counter attacks was exploited and suddenly Celtic found themselves scrambling for an equaliser against Kilmarnock last night.
Familiar failings. The cracker-jack start to the season seems a long way off now.

Although the big names are off the baseball free agent market namely Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth there are still a number of free agents that can quickly make a team much, much better. Here are the top ten players still available on the baseball free agent market:

1. Adrian Beltre
Not only can he swing the bat, he's a fantastic defensive player.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger declared he was not upset with the comments of captain Cesc Fabregas after the Manchester United game. The Spaniard said how the Gunners are scared of losing in big games days after ...