Today sees the first round of internationals take place as teams, you know, play against each
other and stuff. And there'll be some goals and corners and yellow cards and red cards, but they're
not all made out of ticky-tacky and they won't turn out all the same.
From an Arsenal point of view you can see the players on duty here and we'll be keeping
everything crossed that they come through tonight, then Tuesday night, without any problems so they
can continue their start to the season with the real football, the football that people actually
care about.
With the N17 looters having dropped two points on Wearside yesterday the good guys find
themselves needing defeat avoidance at the very least to return to third place.
One would hope that the Spuds have over achieved this season on the back of a few decent
performances from their squad semi-evolved simian.
With the N17 looters having dropped two points on Wearside yesterday the Good Guys find
themselves needing defeat avoidance at the very least to return to third place.
One would hope that the Spuds have over achieved this season on the back of a few decent
performances from their squad semi-evolved simian.
Secondly, there was a bloke in the bar we were in last night who looked exactly like the villain
from every film ever but most especially like the other bloke from the Karate Kid who kicked his
legs that time. He was tall and overly blond with his shirt open too much and he laughed
exaggeratedly.
the dust has settled somewhat following Sunday's drama, and if anything illustrates how quiet
things have gone from the club's point of view, it's that one of the main stories on the official
website is the news that Luis Boa Morte is joining South African side Orlando Pirates of the
Caribbean.
We're bang in the middle of the repulsive transfer window, and it's been like an Anu Malik song
so far. There are some beats cascading on your eardrums, it's not like there's no sound; but most
of the sound is a gigantic pile of bollocks. So it has been with Arsenal, linked with all and
sundry, but the welcome gates at the Emirates are rusting from lack of use.
Now, we are not Chavs, so we will not simply pop out to Harrods and buy the most expensive one
available. No, because remember we have Class, and while that is something quite tricky to define,
we all know that we have the stuff in abundance.
Arseblogger sensationally escaped death this morning despite waking up with what appears to
be the beginning of a cold.
The Arsenal blogger (39) was at the centre of a life and death incident when he found
himself to be a bit sneezy and needed to blow his nose a couple of times.
So 2010 is over. The first league game of the year saw Rosicky score a late equaliser against
Everton, the final game saw Squillaci score a late equaliser against Wigan. Oh, hang on, for Wigan.
Whoops.
After the fantastic display against Chelsea, it was always going to be a letdown that we failed
to take three points from an easier game two days later.
Following the riot after Persipura's 1-0 home defeat by Persija, which saw the visiting team forced
to leave the stadium three hours after the game ended by boat, the Indonesia Super League in their
wisdom have seen fit to impose no sanction on the home team.
December sees the South Asian Football Federation Cup, like the ASEAN Cup but different region of
course, and Pakistan are looking to South East Asia to help with their warm ups. Nepal are of
course all ready back packing round the region, playing the odd game here and there.
Pakistan are already planning a week in Thailand, now Football Pakistan is reporting they are
hoping to have a week in Indonesia.
Goof mornigh from Monsoon hit Dyblun. Or, to put it another way – having got my hands sorted
Good morning from Monsoon hit Dublin. I have a dead leg picked up during football last night which
made getting up the stairs something of a challenge, but I have struggled manfully on to provide
you with your blog fodder.
Usually, after a defeat like the one we experienced against United, and one in which the main
talking point wasn't the football itself, there's a tendency for the club to go into lock-down
mode.
Not this time though. We've got a reaction from various players to what's gone on, not least of
which is Robin van Persie's exclusive in The Sun (why there and not the official site?
What ho Arsenal fans? After two weeks of wandering in the interlull desert, with only the horse
flies that feast upon our vapid flesh for company, a light twinkles on the horizon. Norwich be thy
name! I can almost feel that 9am train beer (is there a better kind of beer?) slinking seductively
down my gullet and slaking the thirst.
Here we are again, people. I know it's been a while but another howler of a decision by a
refereeing crew in England today in a massively important football game has again thrust the issue
of video technology onto the front burner again worldwide. Premier League referee Martin AtkinsonÂ
ruled that Chelsea had scored following a frantic goalmouth scramble to take the lead in their FA
Cup Semi Final at Wembley Stadium, London against Tottenham.
I'm expecting most, if not all of the blogs and websites relating to Spurs to be fairly
depressing today. The majority will be negative about Saturday's dismal performance and the poor
results in the previous three games. I should warn you now, this will be no different so if you
think all is rosy at White Hart Lane and you're happy with a 5/6th place finish and a quarter final
of the champions league then I'd advice you to close the browser window and read no further because
it's unlikely you'll agree with anything I'm about to say.
Yes I thought the same as you lot for a split second and thought to myself SHIT!!!. Then, I came
back down to earth and realised that this report is total rubbish in my opinion.
The Guardian is reporting that Roman Abramovich will revamp the squad in a complete overhaul this
coming summer.
Mike Wong has quit SLeague strugglers Geylang United. The Eagles had started the season poorly with
three defeats in their opening three games including a 7-1 reverse against Home United.
The club initially announced Wong would be placed in charge of the Prime League side; a strange
move that most professional football coaches would not entertain.
Referees seem to have gone card crazy in the SLeague this season. A whopping 12 yellows and one red
were issued at Gombak United a couple of nights ago while last night there were nine yellow and one
red. One guy even got a yellow for trying to take a corner outside the white lines; something that
I've been seeing more and more frequently over the last couple of years.
Yes, I know most of you are pig-sick of her by now, but here's USWNT 'keeper Hope Solo posing
completely 'billy bollocks' on the cover of ESPN magazine's annual 'Body
Issue'...err...issue...
For reasons unknown, ESPN also had Hope engage in a spot of nudey-rudey gardening for good
measure.
We gotta hand it to the 6'4, silky jet-black haired Croatian man candy: Tottenham's Vedran
Ćorluka finally kicked the drunk-off-her-arse-in-public bird to the kerb.
Ćorluka's ex-girlfriend, Iva Buzov, moved out of their London flat and high-tailed it back to
Zagreb two months ago.
Tonight's game has never been too far away in every gooner's minds eye since the draw was made
last December in Nyon, Switzerland.
There is no point in making far reaching rally calls..... my take is to sit back and hopefully
enjoy a festival of Total Football, played out by the two purest footballing sides on earth.
This time last week, I was gazing firmly at my navel. Peering mournfully through black eyeliner
at the poetry of Sylvia Plath whilst listening to The Jesus and Mary Chain on repeat. Without
wishing to crucify the point, a pair of meek cup performances had left me one exasperated
motherfucker. Yet today you find me practically skipping through the meadows, giggling like a
schoolgirl.
Before the game I was a bit apprehensive about our away form, the lack of match practice, the
pressure and atmosphere that Redknapp and Jordan had been talking up and the injury crisis in our
midfield. All of those worries, much like Hearts, were exposed as utter bollocks within the first 5
minutes.
This morning I was looking back through the archives to see if I could do an 'On this day', kind
of feature. I think I picked a bad day.
My choices were: the day after Thierry Henry left (2007), us being linked very heavily with
Alexander Hleb (2005), Jens Lehmann talking about how we should sign Miroslav Klose (2006),
Barcelona talking about wanting to sign Thierry (2003), vaguely hoping Igors Stepanovs might
cripple Ruud van Nistelrooy in the Euros (2004) and a quote from Chris Waddle talking on 5Live
about the Swedish back four at the 2002 World Cup:
The Swedish back four is amongst the tallest in the world cup.
