I've mentioned in a couple of previous articles that our form at the tail end of last season was incredibly impressive. However, it goes back a little further than that. On the 1st December last year, we welcomed high flyers Swansea to the Emirates.
The Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis yesterday gave his usual rousing speech about Arsenal aiming to win trophies next season, not simply aim for the Top Four. He has vowed to back Arsene Wenger in the transfer market to give the Gunners the toools to win trophies.
With the renewals of season tickets set to begin today, Gazidis said: "It is important to reiterate that for everyone at the Club, qualification for the Champions League is not our ultimate ambition.
Well done Arsenal. Now the serious work begins... by FD
As the dust settles on another Premier League campaign, Arsenal fans can look back on a satisfying final third of the season. While it may have been a little strange watching the celebrations of the Arsenal players at winning fourth place, with memories of the Invincibles still etched in our minds, we shouldn't begrudge them their plaudits.
The Cameroonian midfielder Alexander Song, has been the subject of many reports in Spain saying that he was unhappy with the amount of playing time he is getting at Barcelona, and would be keen to return to Arsenal to regain his regular place in the team.
But the player himself has now denied any such wish, and although he respectfully says that Arsenal are a very good team, they just don't quite measure up to Barcelona in the world rankings, and we can't really disagree with that right now can we?
It seems sometimes you just can't win (no pun intended). I'm not talking about a match, but when it comes to what the fans want. Actually, that's not true .... We the Arsenal fans want it all Champions League football, and competitiveness in all competitions.
The Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn is as aware of the rest of us that Arsene Wenger has more money in the bank than just about any other team in the world ready to invest in the tyransfer market. The rumours are saying that he has a minimum of £70million to strengthen the team, but Winterburn doesnt believe Wenger will be going for established stars.
The celebrated ex-Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman is not very impressed with Arsenal's ongoing battle to end up in the Top Four and secure a place in next year's Champions League, and thinks that the club should actually be challenging to win a trophy or two instead of aiming for Fourth.
Mikel Arteta has been a mainstay of Arsenal's midfield for the last two seasons, but is angry that the team keeps losing easy games and now have a fight on their hands to try and end up in the Champions League next year, which Arteta thinks is "unacceptable" for a club of Arsenal's stature.
He thinks that, especially if Arsenal fail to make the Top Four, the Board simply must use some of their massive profits to improve the Gunners squad for an assault on the title next season.
In the space of 8 years we have seen our club go from the edge of greatness, from consistently winning trophies every year and celebrating being arguably the best team of the world, to a team that struggles week in week out against much weaker opposition and we can now only dream of going far in competitions, let alone getting to the final and winning something.
Why Arsenal haven't won anything in seven years by Ix Techau
Is Arsenal going in the right direction? Since there is so much opinion on whether Wenger should go or not, I compiled some stats on Arsenal's success since Wenger took over in October 1996 compared to some of their closest rivals; Man utd; Chelsea; Liverpool.
Fellow Gooners, before you start reading this, I would like to make an appeal to you. There is no doubting that Arsene Wenger has achieved great things for our club and has made us proud of our team many times in the past decade and a half. This article is not a rant, its rather a constructive criticism of Wenger's recent performances.
The chorus ringing of ‘who are ya?' ringing around a stadium is the stupidest football chant man could conceive but for the Arsenal this question becomes profound. In my short life I have known Arsenal as ‘the defensive team', ‘the title winning team', the greatest premier league team', the 2nd best footballing team in the world, the selling team but.
After our last 3 results, a lot of Arsenal fans are rightfully livid at what is happening at the club. We are now 15 points off the top of the table. That is frankly embarrassing and at this rate, we could easily be 30 points off the top come May.
Not many Arsenal fans know this, but Emmanuel Adebayor can see into the future! Either that, or he is talking out of a part of the body that rarely sees any sunshine. Adebayor left Arsenal for Manchester City in 2009, but didn't make it there and they finally manged to offload him to Tottenham this summer after a long loan spell.
Stuttering Arsenal continue to underperform with another lacklustre performance against Schalke. by Adam Kemp
The rollercoaster ride that is Arsenal has begun to loop round once again this season. From the sublime to the ridiculous; who am I kidding from the average to the ridiculous?
Match day again. This time, it's the second domestic cup competition in England, the League Cup. When I started to follow the team, it was known as the Coca Cola Cup, in which we've managed to win two of those trophies. Since it was changed to Worthingthon Cup and Carling Cup, we have not been able to lift the trophy.
A recent statement from our esteemed manager got me thinking, should he be treated any differently from the once 'hero-like' ex-players who left the club for 'trophies' and are now regarded as the spawn of the devil himself, or is he in a different position!?
What possible statement could make Slim compare the club's greatest ever manager to these money grabbing heathens, I hear you cry!
The Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna has given a frank interview where he has expressed his
unhappiness at Arsenal selling their best players year after year, and it makes it worse when he
sees those same players collecting trophies at their new clubs. He said: "I am the last player from
the 2007 starting XI remaining.
The final day of the transfer window has come and passed. All the anticipation over signings and
we were left disappointed. There were plenty of deals being done all over the Premier League but
none of the news came out from London Colney nor the Emirates or the Highbury House.
It's almost not worth writing articles during the transfer window these days since you don't know
who to believe unless you actually talk to the players themselves. And even some of them don't have
clue what's going on. Looking over the headlines regarding Theo Walcott and his contract
negotiations with Arsenal you'll see there are about two dozen different scenarios offered by
various writers and newspapers.
The ex-Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg has just retired from football at 35 years of age, and he has
taken the opportunity to celebrate his glory days at Arsenal, where he won two League titles and
three FA Cup Winners medals. But he remembers that Arsene Wenger used to buy in top stars every
year, and [.
Vermaelen confident of Arsenal success by TS Our captain Thomas Vermaelen is sure that Arsenal can
fight at the top of the Premier League this season and believes that if we are to win trophies this
season then it is imperative that there are a lack of injuries throughout the squad which has had a
[.
1. Chelsea know how to win these trophies against the run of play. They were inferior to Benfica for huge chunks of this match, but Bayern Munich will testify that counts for little. 2. "Winners of Europe's second most prestigious club competition, we know what we are" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
Rafa Benitez has finally let the water-off-a-duck's-back approach to the hostile treatment he's received since arrived at Chelsea slip as he hit out at the club and its supporters. The Blues boss also confirmed he will leave his post at the end of the season. He criticised the club's hierarchy for undermining his position by [.
Rafa Benitez is beloved by Liverpool fans. He can't help but tell them exactly what they want to hear, even when he's starting a new job at a completely different club. The Spaniard used his first round of interviews as Chelsea's interim manager to hit out at former Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Fernando Torres endured a frustrating evening as he failed to make an impact in Chelsea's
shocking 4-1 defeat to his former club Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup on Friday but the
striker is determined to guide the Blues to a magical 2012-13 campaign.
Torres endured a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge but despite being unable to
replicate the individual brilliance that he demonstrated during his Liverpool days, he won the FA
Cup and UEFA Champions League double last season.
Radamel Falcao struck a remarkable first-half hat-trick to stun Champions League winners Chelsea
at half-time of their UEFA Super Cup clash against Atletico Madrid in Monaco.
Falcao, who was billed to come face to face with former Atletico great Fernando Torres, outshone
the Blues striker in a 45-minute spell where he could have actually added even more.
1. Now Manchester City know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an epic 3-2 comeback. At least no trophies were on the line this time. 2. Roberto Mancini is presumably wishing that all parties had taken his advice about Cristiano Ronaldo taking a six-month sabbatical seriously. 3. Somebody at Channel 5 [.
1. In May 2010 he won the Champions League, the Coppa Italia and Serie A. QPR played one game that
month, losing at home to cement their position in the bottom half of the Championship. 2. Cesar has
won 26 major trophies in his career. QPR have won five. 3. He becomes the 19th player [...]
This is an appeal on behalf of Premiership Rejects in Iberia Charitable Support (PRICS). Every
summer powerful Spanish clubs unsettle the Premier League's finest talent before trafficking the
players to Spain. The players are promised sunshine, trophies, appreciation and a better standard
of life. But they're not told that they just won't get the same [.
This is an appeal on behalf of Premiership Rejects in Iberia Charitable Support (PRICS). Every
summer powerful Spanish clubs unsettle the Premier League's finest talent before trafficking the
players to Spain. The players are promised sunshine, trophies, appreciation and a better standard
of life. But they're not told that they just won't get the same [.
The Mirror is reporting that Brendan Rodgers loaned Andy Carroll to West Ham, because he had
been promised by the board that they will bring in a replacement.
Rodgers obviously wanted Clint Dempsey, but that didn't happen as Fulham revealed they had
rejected an offer of JUST £3million for him, and he went to Spurs for £5million.
Due to Arsenal's (many) disastrous performances this season, many fans have called into question whether he is still the right man to lead Arsenal Football Club at this moment in time, and think that if Arsenal don't even manage to snatch Fourth Place this season then the (once) great man should stand down in the summer.
What are Arsenal's chances of silverware at the current moment? by KJ
After this weekend's results, there is quite a bit of renewed hope for this season's chance of silverware. We now sit 9 points off the top which is a lot more manageable than the previous 11 points. It's weird but you have to look at the multiples and all the permutations.
Eighteen-year-old midfielder Gael Bigirimana has been one of the positive surprises at Newcastle this season, since signing from Coventry City for just £1M over the summer, and he started off his Newcastle career in style and has already racked up 5 appearances for the first team, after impressing in pre-season.
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho supports UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, and he has warned
the new breed of cash-rich clubs that difficult times lie ahead.
Mourinho believes that it is Real Madrid's heritage, and that of other European giants, that
will protect them club from any negative repercussions when the new regulations are applied.
It's early in the stretch run of a season that MLS puts forth as a marathon. In a season where
Seattle fell short of two trophies already (Open Cup, 11/12 CCL) they still are capable of two more
major trophies as well as the Cascadia Cup. Travel concerns essentially end in September, unless
the Sounders are on the road for the MLS Cup Final, which is travel that any fan, supporter,
player, coach or front office personnel would love to be forced upon them.
"Joining United is a dream come true. I look forward to playing my part in helping this club win
more honours."
"If I want to play for the money, I would accept the Manchester City offer or Chelsea. The red
shirt is the really big thing for me. I want to play for the biggest club in the world.
So our less-than-scintillating but far-from-disastrous start to the season gets puts to one side
for the last straight of the madness that is the transfer window. This morning, belatedly if you
ask me, it's all about Theo Walcott who's apparently turned down an offer of £75k a week.
Now, I haven't blogged much this summer, partly because I needed a break and partly because the
incessant rumour gets my giddy goat, but I did write about Walcott back in July and it pretty much
all still stands.
Benny Feilhaber returned to form out on the left during Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Crew.
Feilhaber assisted on Jerry Bengtson's 23rd minute tally. (Photo: Kari
Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
One-goal games.
It's often said that good teams prevail in one-goal games. That, somehow, whether it's squeezing
out the lone goal of a 1-0 win, or grabbing the game-winner in an offensive outburst, good teams,
more often than not, come out on top.
