Quick Update

93rd Minute – Hahahahaha.

I will have some sort of report up later, I’m incredibly busy at the moment, I am trying to fit something in on here, and this is all I can muster for now.

Just watch this if your bored, its pretty good actually.

Until Later.

Lauren Leaves Arsenal

Right back Lauren has left Arsenal this afternoon, to sign for Portsmouth. For an ‘Undisclosed Fee’

“Ralph” signed for us in 2000 from Real Mallorca and scored on his debut against Liverpool at Highbury – a 2-0 win.

The former Cameroonian international played a vital role in the side that won the double in 2002 and also the side that went Unbeaten in the 2003/2004 season.

Lauren has scored some vital goals for us in the past, ones that spring to mind is that Penalty in the North London derby, such bottle to roll it down the middle in the 86th minute or whatever it was, and who could forget that solo effort at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup a few years back. Lauren also scored the penalty in 5-4 win at Spurs in 2005. You can see that here.

Ralph was once considered our weak link in the side, I think that was total bollocks, he was the best defending right back we had in the squad, but Wenger is obviously confident enough in Hoytey and Eboue.

I always liked Lauren, I met him once actually at a signing session at a local sports shop after School, I would put up a picture but I look a prat to be honest. A very nice bloke indeed.

Ralph always liked to get stuck in and didn’t mind kicking someone up in the air at all, Mr Reliable is a good expression for him.

He played his last game for us almost a year ago, in the Carling Cup against Wigan, where he picked up a knee injury which has kept him out all this time.

Le boss has this afternoon paid tribute to Lauren’s contributions in recent years -

 “Lauren’s contribution to Arsenal since he joined the Club in 2000 has been absolutely outstanding. He has been a central figure in the Club winning the Premiership twice and the FA Cup three times and his high level of performances have made sure that he will always have a place in Arsenal history. On behalf of the players and staff we wish Lauren the best of luck at Portsmouth.”

Lauren himself has had this to say -

“I have made many great friends and have many wonderful memories from the years I have spent at Arsenal. I have enjoyed great success with the Club and I am very grateful to Arsène Wenger, my team mates and all the fantastic Arsenal fans for their support. The fans have been brilliant. Of course I am sad to be leaving Arsenal, but am I am very much looking forward to a new challenge at Portsmouth.”  

A very nice way to leave, I hope you take note of this Ashley, this is what Classy people do, they don’t bring out books talking complete shite or they don’t leave the club without saying thanks or appreciate what the club has made him. 

Anyway, Thanks for the memories Ralph , I hope your efforts for Arsenal don’t go unoticed or unappreciated. Because we the fans, well at least myself certainly appreicate what you have done, Im sure I won’t be the only one.

Cheers, Ralph.

This picture will always give me great satisfaction -

See ya.

Blackburn 0 Arsenal 2 & Some Other Guff

Apologies for the lateness, I have a test this week and it’s hard to find the time.

A wonderful win at Blackburn on Saturday capped off a fantastic week for Arsenal. It was our third trip to the North-West in 7 days, and again we emerged victorious.

Now, I missed the first half, so I can’t comment to much on the game. I missed because I was coming home from the West Ham game, I did hear Toure’s goal on Five Live though, but it’s not the same as seeing it. It was a great goal and fairly unusual for Arsenal, a cross and a header. I must comment on Blackburns defending for this, as Toure the eventual goalscorer was the ONLY player in the box prior to the free kick being taken, so surely Blackburn would deal with the threat without a fuss. Well, it was a complete dogs up in my opinoin. Henry put in a perfectly weighted cross right onto the head of Toure, who placed his header perfectly, onto the post and into the net, Brad Friedel didn’t move. So 1-0 to the Arsenal at half time. Somehow, on Five Live Alan Green didn’t mention Gilberto’s sending off, during the short time I was listening to him. When I got home, the second half was just starting, and ever a few minutes I noticed that Gilberto wasn’t on the pitch, and then I finally realised that he had been sent off, much to my annoyance, as nobody watching the game at my house had the decency to tell me what had happened. Sods.

Anyway, onto the second half, I thought we looked shaky when crosses were coming into the box, and having seen the first half highlights it was pretty much the same with Blackburn having numerous chances from crosses. Having said that, Toure and Senderos defended very well, and Djourou will have to work hard to regain his place, however I do think Johan should play ahead of Senderos when either Toure or Gallas are missing. I have criticised Senderos an awful lot over the past couple of months, but in his last 2 games he has played very well and looks to have regained his form and shaken off that World Cup rustiness, he still has alot to do to convince me he can be a world class defender and ‘The Next Tony Adams’ but the last 2 appearances have certainly been a step in the right direction.

Despite Blackburn’s attempt at an equaliser we still looked dangerous on the counter attack, and like we could grab ourselves a second and the three points. We did just that on 71 minutes. Blackburn had a free kick, in a dangerous position, the free kick was shite, hitting Rosicky who controlled it and passed it to Henry, with Fabregas joining in attack, Thierry ran down the left and by the time he was in Blackburns half, it was 6 on 2, in the Northerners favour, Fabregas ran in every direction waiting for that pass, but Thierry Kept delaying it, until he got the near the box, and in a flash they worked the one two and when Henry got the ball back he unleashed yet another Wonder goal, unsaveable. Friedel got fingers to it, but it was never going to stop that ball, had the American stopper got his  and to the ball, it would have taken it clean off, maybe?

Thierry did his usual Mr Cool celebration infront of the travelling Gooners, game over.

Thierry had another chance minutes later when Rosicky floated in a great ball, Henry brought it down and snatched at it abit, one he would usually score but the damage had already been done.

Not much else happened after this, and the game had been won. 3 valuable points away from home, and perhaps one of the biggest wins so far this season, considering the cirsumstances.

An awful lot has been said about the Red card, so Im not going to write loads about it, apart from stating the obvious that Robbis Savage is huge cunt. Fact.

Arsene will NOT be appealing the red card as he fears the suspension could be extended to 4 games.

Gilberto will miss the home match against Man United next Sunday, the first leg of the Carling cup semi-final at White Hart Lane and the FA Cup 4th round tie against Bolton at the Emirates.

After his recent form, the last thing we would want is Gilberto missing from the side, especially when we have battling teams like Bolton and Man United visiting the Emirates within the next 13 days.

I think we will cope, it’s highly likely that Flamini will take his place during his absence, well it’s a dead cert in my opinoin. He has proved he can do a job in the middle and I have alot of confidence in him that he will do his job against Man U, Bolton etc.

It appears that Arsene Agrees with me, which was nice of him -

“Gilberto will be missing but we feel that with the spirit and quality we have we can cope with that,”

“We have had three different teams in our last three games but produced the same quality. We are very proud of that at the Club.”

In other news, Arsenal Loanee Fabrice Muamba has been called up for the England Under 19-Squad to play against Poland next month, which is just another testament to Arsenal’s youth Policy, Fabrice’s current manager, Steve ‘My face looks like I’ve just walked into a bus’ Bruce wants to take him to Birmingham on a permanant basis, which I hope doesn’t happen. As he was a huge talent in last years reserve side, and this loan spell in the Championship is just buliding him up to bring him into our First Team next season.

This season, when we have lost, which has always been away from home, Arsene usually mentioned something about getting the right balance within the squad, well Le Boss now believed we finally have that long awaited balance -

“I feel it is a measure of the progress we have made, In some games at the beginning of the season we were not as committed as we are at the moment but we have learned a lot and are progressing.”

“We have improved, we have found the right balance between what is needed in the Premiership without losing our football. That is very important to us.”

It was one of the most satisfying performances because the spirit was strong, Our defence is maturing, we never panicked and never made silly challenges to give a stupid free kick away. We didn’t show signs of being under pressure and we won the challenges very well.”

“We had a great combination I feel between strength, commitment and real class. For me that shows the team is growing and you feel there is a strength coming from game to game. There is great solidarity in this side.”

A few words from Arsene there.

Thats me done for today, I’ll have something about the Man United game later in the week and If I have the time, perhaps after my exam, I will review our season so far. There have been many talking points already this season, which is our first in the Emirates stadium, so Im sure there will be plenty to talk about.

Thanks for reading.

Blackburn v Arsenal Preview

I really should make more time for myself.

We are away from home again today, and again it’s in the North-West, Blackburn are the hosts this week, a team that we have had mixed results against in recent years, especially at Ewood Park.

The last we won there was in 2005, a Robin Van Persie goal was enough to give us the three points, last year however we lost 1-0, just 3 days after beating Real Madrid in the Bernabau, we find ourselves in a similar situation this year round, after smashing Liverpool twice in both domestic cups away from home, we have to follow it up with a win at in-form Blackburn.

Since we smashed them 6-2 at the Emirates just before Christmas, they haven’t lost, infact they have won every game since then, including a 1-0 win over Liverpool on Boxing day, and an impressive 4-1 win at Everton last week.

It will be a very tricky tie, as it always is against Blackburn, they are extremely dirty bastards so we musn’t fear them today. We have a full strength squad bar Ljungberg, Gallas and Eboue. Im not sure who will play today, especially up front, as we have 5 strikers available. I think if anyone is to be left out it will be Aliadiere. Baptista should play in my opinoin, but behind the two strikers. A diamond formation is a possiblity, hopefully not, but If thats how to play The Beast, then why not, he scored 4 in the last game, as if you have forgotten.

I am not going today, mainly because of money. I wish I was, but instead im going with a friend to watch West Ham v Fulham, its something to do I suppose, then I’ve got to find a pub to watch the Blackburn game, I think I might leave before the end. Who knows, kick off is at 5.15. Which if anybody has noticed is a fixture Sky always give us away from home, up north, which we usually lose. Bolton, Sheffield and Man Citeh are recent games, plus numerous games last year. We never have 5.15 matches at home, not a massive thing, but just something that I have noticed. Maybe it’s just me?

Ok then, Im going to stop waffling.

Hopefully I wont miss a kick of our match, or I think my West Ham mate might find himself getting a punch in the face.

Come on you Goooners!

Arsenal Face Spurs in Semi-Final Showdown

Our 6-3 demolition of Liverpool on Tuesday evening at Anfield meant that we would progress to the Semi-Final’s of the Carling cup, the 4th time we have been at this stage in Arsene Wenger’s 10 years. Having being knocked out in the past by Chelsea, Middlesboro and most recently Wigan. This time however, its different, cause we are playing them.

Over the past 2 or 3 years, I have really not looked forward to our games with Spurs, perhaps because I am in so much fear of losing to them, Im always confident that we can get the result, but I just dislike playing them. I really am not sure why, after our 3-0 win in December I thought we had rid of them until our next League meeting in April, this was not to be the case, as Arsenal kids brushed aside the likes of West Brom, Everton and Liverpool, Spurs just scraped past a brave Southend side at White Hart lane, with midegt Defoe getting the late winner, with Southend being my local and perhaps my second team, playing them would have been quality. Obviously I would want Southend to get a good hiding, but it would be a nice change from playing them on FIFA. But when Spurs won that game I knew we would draw them in the Semi’s should we beat Liverpool, and that we did, with Chelsea getting the relatively easy task of Wycombe, whom they failed to beat this evening.

Over recent years I’ve always felt that Wenger doesn’t care that much about the Carling cup, but last year when we lost to Wigan, Wenger brought in the likes of Henry and Pires for the second leg, and it showed that he doesn’t just use it to bring younger players through. That is perhaps a big part of it, but I think he knows its another trophy and a team as big as ours should win at least 1 trophy per season. Man United won it last year, and if they hadn’t, it would have been described a poor season. I would like to win it. Its another trophy we are playing for, and the last 2 teams to win it have been Manchester United and Chelsea, So it’s not a trophy the bigger clubs lightly, as perhaps they would have done 5 or so years ago. We have come so close in recent years and Im sure Wenger would now want to get to the final, having been disappointed 3 times already.

The first leg will be at Shite Hart Lane on the 24th of January, a Wednesday night. The game will be live on Sky Sports and Kick off is at 8pm. It’s highly unlikely I will be going as I’d imagine I would need something like 40 credits on the travel club to get a ticket. The second leg at the Emirates is one week later on the 31st and kick off time is 7.45. On the season tickets you do not get the Carling Cup games included, so it was always a good chance for Red members or the general public to see a game at home, this will not be the case however, as Im guessing every season ticket holder will buy a ticket. Reduced price I hope, but it’s them isn’t it. Obviously I will have more on the game nearer the time, but I’m only posting this to break up the Liverpool report and this.

The Final is on the 25th of February and if we get there I am definatly going to Cardiff, but I don’t want to talk about getting there, lets get the Wanky Tottenham Hotspur out of the way first.

The big question for now is will Wenger stick with the kids?

Or will he bring in the Bg boys? 

What do you lot think? Because I am in two-minds.

I think the kids will play in the first game, and depending on the result, then Im not sure who will play at Emirates, if we don’t get the result we want in the first leg, then I am certain that Thierry and co will play. Then again, thats what I think.

In other Cup news, Arsenal’s FA Cup game against Bolton has been selected by Sky Sports and will be played on Sunday the 28th of January, kick off will be at 4pm. So thats Man United, Spurs twice and Bolton all in the space of 10 days. At least we don’t have to travel far.

Good Morning.

Liverpool 3 Arsenal 6 – Julio’s Baptism of Fire

 

Just look at the scoreline, utterly mental.

Arsenal have done the Cup double over Liverpool, by beating them 3-1 on Saturday in the FA Cup, and topped that by knocking out Liverpool in the Carling Cup by 6 goals to 3, with both games at Anfield.

Julio Baptista scored his 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th goals for the club last night, with Jeremie Aliadiere getting his 3rd of the season and Alex Song getting his first for the club, ALEX SONG!!!???

Wenger took up a very young squad up to Anfield on Tuesday night, but mixed in with some experience it was the perfect mixture to smash 6 past the most decorated club in English football.

Manuel Almunia kept his place in the team, with only Toure being the only other player who played that started on Saturday, brought in for this game were Hoyte, Djourou, Traore, Denilson, Song, Fabregas, Walcott, Baptista and Aliadiere. Whom all played superbly in my opinoin, especially the two boys up front.

We started the the game quite well, passing it round and looking fairly dangerous, also seeing Djourou go through Fowler in the 2nd minute was very pleasing on the eye. The game was stopped for 6 minutes moments later, after Livepools Mark Gonzalez, went in for a tackle with Theo and somehow injured himself. It didn’t look very good for him at all, he hardly moved until he was lifted onto the stretcher and carried off, I think he is going to miss the rest of the season. Luis Garcia replaced him.

It took a while for the game to get going again, but when it did, Arsenal maximised their opportunities, scoring 4 in 20 minutes. First it was Aliadiere, Toure launched it to Jeremie who had made a great run and was easily ahead of the defender, he brought it down with some magical skill, and tried to smash it past Dudek in the same movement, it bounced off Dudek and Aliadiere finished from the rebound, Arsenal were leading again at Anfield.

Just 6 minutes later, the scores were tied, Liverpool were running at speed towards our box and Alex Song gave away a silly free kick, and he was booked. His third of the season. The shot from the free kick was well parried by Almunia, but it went straight to an offside Luis Garcia, who I think scuffed it to Robbie Fowler, who finished with a neat flick. Seven minutes after this, Arsenal retook the lead, from a free kick. An absolute stunner from The Beast, Dudek hardly moved, as it flew into the bottom left corner, he looked delighted with his goal and I was very pleased for him.

We increased our lead in the 45th minute, good work on the left saw us win a corner, Denilson whipped it in, Dudek came out and flapped like some demented bird, missed the ball and it just sort of hit Alex Song, I was laughing whilst Jumping and shouting, because I couldnt quite grasp the fact he had scored for Arsenal. I think he was as shocked as we all were.

So 3-1 at half time we all thought, but the injury to Gonzalez meant there would be six minutes of added time, and in the last minute of the 6, Arsenal took the piss, quite frankly. Superb work from Baptista on the left, who beat 2 or 3 defenders, he put through Aliadiere, who returned it to the maruading Beast who couldnt miss to bag himself a brace.

The half time whistle came straight after, and Arsenal were in dreamland.

Despite being 4-1 up, you still had to feel Liverpool were in this game, and an early goal may have given us supporters a very tense and edgy sencond half, It was the complete opposite, as Arsenal had the chance to make it 5-1 at Anfield. Aliadiere, who had given Hyypia a hatful or problems all night, gave him another one, Jeremie was brought down by Hyypia in the box, a stone wall penalty. I couldn’t believe the defender wasn’t booked though, wasn’t exactly going to change the game was it. A few of my mates at College said Walcott should have taken it, so he could get his first goal for the club, but I think it would have been incredibly harsh to deny Baptista’s chance of a hat-trick. Julio walked up, looked very focused but had his pen saved well by Dudek, the only thing he did right all game. Baptista didn’t have to wait long to make up for his miss, just 3 minutes infact, more great work from Aliadiere on the left, who made a precision perfect pass to Baptista, Gerrard dived in to block it, which he didn’t really need to do, and it cost them, Baptista took two touches and then unleashed a fantasic shot, not so much for power, but for placing, right in the corner, no goalie would have stopped it and it was game over, Arsenal were 5-1 up at Anfield!

It tooks 8 minutes for Liverpool to reply, a very good strike from Gerrard, but remember Liverpool fans, thats all he did last night, the rest of the match he was played off the park and easily matched by Fabregas, and even Alex Song. Liverpool still had to score 3 goals in 22 minutes to force extra time and I really wasn’t that worried. Liverpool reacted perfectly when Luis Garcia injured himself, in the same manor has Gonzalez was, by replacing him with Carragher, even though Crouch was available. I think Benitez had given up the game by then. Liverpool got one goal of the three that they needed, they scored from a Palleta cross, with Hyypia getting on the end of it, quite poor defending to be honest, but Song shouldn’t have been marking hyypia, as there is quite a height difference. I was starting to worry abit at this stage, as Liverpool had 10 minutes plus to score twice, very possible if you look at recent events, Istanbul for instance. This worrying was shortlived, as Baptista completed the rout, Justin Hoyte Hoofed it, Aliadiere got to the ball easily and mugged Hyypia again, running down the bi-line and squaring it to Baptista who had an easy finish and his 4th of the game. Game over, EASY EASY EASY! ! !

Not much happened after this, as the game had been won.

Now, Im not going to talk about all the goals and leave out our defenders and our keeper who I felt played very well last night. They certainly did not deserve to concede 3 goals, perhaps 1 at best, as Gerrards strike was unsavable. The other two were certainly avoidable.

I said recently that Kolo Toure has played too many games, and I was quite shocked when I saw him in the squad for Tuesdays match, as I was pretty sure Matthew Connolly wasn’t going to start with Djourou, who was equally brilliant. I thought the wing backs played very well too, the always inproving Justin Hoyte put in another accomplished performance, and I would play him ahead of Eboue at the moment. Also 17 year old Traore did his bit, and looked so powerful and quick going forward, he struggled abit defensivley, but I thought that was because Denilson drifted into the middle abit to often which gave Liverpool the space. When Denilson switched to the right I thought he was alot more useful and it was a solid performance from him. Fabregas was his usual self, creating space and openings, threading balls through to the attack. So calm and calculated for a 19 year-old, it makes you sick, unless you are a Gooner.

I felt sorry for young Theo last night, we tried to use him an awful lot in the opening 30 minutes, but everytime he got on the ball he had 2 or 3 players on him, they know how dangerous he can be and defensivley it was the only thing they got right, as the pairing of Paletta and Hyypia was a fucking shambles in itself.

Alex Song has had alot of criticism since his move from France in 2005, from about every Arsenal fan in existence, well last night was the First sign of what he can do, and maybe what Wenger has been seeing all this time. He looked abit shaky in the opening 15 minutes, but once he got on the ball more he looked alot more confident in the middle and I think he plays best when he is given space, which doesn’t happen every game, especially in our league which is unfortunate. I think that will come eventually, it was nice to see him play and not slate him afterwards. He still has alot to do convince Arsenal fans he is worthy and talented enough of a regular fixture within the starting eleven, but last nights performance did him no harm at all.

Another played who has been criticised of late, was Jeremie Aliadiere, and last nights effort was a far cry from Sheffield 2 weeks ago. He scored 1, made 3 and won a penalty. I think we saw the Aliadiere that we had all hoped we would be seeing 2 or 3 seasons ago. He was full of energy and running and certainly proved he can be a decent player. I am still not sure if he will stay though, if he plays like that every game then we have a very good players on our hands.

Congratulations to Abou Diaby who made his long-awaited comeback last night, given 20 minutes or so, he slotted in well and looked like he had never been away.

Block 11 Player Ratings -

Almunia – 7.5, Hoyte – 7, Toure – 7.5, Djourou – 8, Traore – 7, Walcott – 6.5, Fabregas – 8, Song – 7.5, Denilson – 7, Aliadiere – 8.5, Block 11 Star Man – Baptista – 9.

Subs  -

Diaby – 6

Connolly – 5

A final mention goes to Julio Baptista, so much has been expected of him since his switch from Madrid in August, he had scored just once before last nights game, and we had only seen flashed of his ability. Well last night must have been a bad night for the critics, as he as well stood up to the plate, he scored 4 goals, at Anfield. What more can you ask of him, and after that how can Wenger not play him up at Blackburn on Saturday.

More of that to come in the week.

Thanks for reading Gooners.

It’s Bolton Again

For the third season running, we have drawn Bolton in the FA Cup, in 2005 we faced them in the 6th round and a Freddie Ljungberg goal gave us a narrow 1-0  victory at the Reebok. Last year we faced them at the Reebok again in the 4th round where we lost 1-0, after a late Stelios header.

This time however, we are at home, and its our turn to beat them in the cup, I think Bolton will play for a draw and take us back to the Reebok, which nobody wants.

We could of had a worse draw, but Bolton have been our bogey team over the past few seasons, but usually away from home, they somehow got a 1-1 at Highbury last season and I think we have a great chance of progressing. Bring the Fuckers on.

It is perhaps the biggest draw of the round, if you think of the two sides recent history. Other ties worth a mention are

Chelsea v Nottingham Forest and

Manure v Pompey.

Spurs will play either Southend or Barnsley if they can beat Cardiff at Shite Hart Lane. Come on you taffies!

After his mecurial performance on Saturday Tomas Rosickyhas been talking about the possibility of playing at Wembley come May.

“This Cup has such a history, and it can be just as difficult as the Champions League. It doesn’t matter if you have PSV in the Champions League or Liverpool in the FA Cup, they are both hard games.”

“Wembley is a big incentive for me because I have never played in the stadium. I remember seeing a couple of games from the European Championships in England when they played at Wembley. It is just a huge stadium and it would be great if we could get to the Final.”

“We have shown already that we are capable of beating big teams. We have beaten Liverpool twice, we won at Manchester United and we almost won at Chelsea. We are losing points against the smaller teams and we have to solve that problem.”

Errrr, yep. Couldn’t agree more.

Exciting young prospect Anthony Stokes has left Arsenal for good and has signed for Championship side Sunderland. Where he will link up with fellow countrymen Niall Quinn and Manager Roy Keane, which was one of the main reasons he decided to move to the North East.

It’s quite a strange one to be honest, because we have been hearing about this kid for a few months now, scoring all the time for Falkirk, which included 3 hat- tricks and a player of the month award. Then when he returns from his loan and is sold immediately to another club. I’m not sure I am that disappointed because I’d never heard of him until he was scoring goals in Scotland, not because I don’t pay attention to the Reserves, because I do. Wenger said last week that we have a lot of strikers, 3 of which are still on loan ; Lupoli, Bendtner and Vela, the other has been sold. Lupoli will probably leave Arsenal and Bendtner leaving is a possibility. If we sell Aliadiere, which is highly likely and not a bad move that means we have 3 strikers. Perhaps Walcott and Baptista can be considered strikers, but with Baptista’s current situation, It seems like he won’t be extending his loan deal come the Summer, so maybe we should buy somebody? I’ve always like Darren Bent, not sure if he could do the business at a bigger club, but he certainly stepped up to the plate when he moved from Ipswich to the Premiership.

This is only a possibility of course, not saying that it is happening or it should happen, but it’s not a bad option. We shall see what Wenger does, he maintains that he will not buy anybody in this window, but if we end up selling players  like Aliadiere, Larsson, Ljungberg, Lupoli and Bendtner etc, then he will have to consider bringing somebody in. Because I’m fairly certain that at least 2 of those players will be departing Emirates this month, Larsson and Aliadiere I think.

Moving away from Transfer news, Abou Diaby has returned to First team action by being drafted into Wenger’s 16 man squad for tomorrows Carling Cup game against Liverpool. Diaby was cruelly injured 8 months ago when some Sunderland nobody broke and fractured Abou’s ankle. Which meant he missed out on the plane to Paris on the 17th of May.

Arsene made these comments on his comeback and other injuries -

“We have Diaby in the squad for the first time and Emmanuel Adebayor is very strongly coming back. Blackburn is possible for him,”

“Lauren is not in the squad for Liverpool, he has a small toe injury. William Gallas will not play either. But basically the only real injury is Ljungberg, he needs one more week after Blackburn.”

“That is why I said for a long time that I won’t buy anyone. I knew I had enough players when they came back from injury.”

The news on the other player is incredibly frustrating, as it was expected William Gallas would return for the Carling cup game, and god knows when he will play for Arsenal again. It was also said that Adebayor would be back for Blackburn but now that looks unlikely, Van Persie and Eboue picked up knocks at Anfield on Saturday, but Wenger hasn’t said anything about them, so perhaps that was an absolute load of old crap.

That’s it from me today, I’ll have something about the Mickey mouse cup game at Anfield in the morning.

Bye.

Liverpool 1 Arsenal 3 – What a Day

After going to Manchester and Paris last season, Bolton, Fulham and Sheffield this, I finally got to see Arsenal win away. The most incredible away day I’ve ever been apart of. Quite possibly any game, this really was special for me. Growing up I’ve always imagined Anfield as a massive place to win, perhaps bigger than any place. I’m not sure why but it really pleases me when we win there. Games like the 2-1 in 2001, when Van Bronkhorst got sent off, and when Pires hit that cracker in 2003, winning at Anfield has only happened twice during my short time on this planet, and yesterdays win will go down as the Greatest for me. Now I know it’s only the Third round and perhaps singing We’re on our way to Wembley on the way home was slightly premature, but we didn’t care.

So I was up bright and early for 6.30, having only been asleep for 4 hours, so perhaps not that bright. Got a shower, sort of did a preview on here, sorted out my bag and I was off, 2 trains were cancelled, but I had plenty of time, another 2 trains cancelled and I may have been i trouble. Got to Holloway Road, sorted myself out with snacks and drink, boarded the coach and we were off, due to my lack of sleep I wasn’t awake for the duration of the journey. When we got to the services there was as many Liverpool fans as there was Arsenal. Got myself a Ginsters and we were back on the road, it rained pretty much all the way from Emirates to Anfield, and there was word going round that it might get called off. We arrived in Liverpool at about 3.30 with plenty of time, there was already a great atmosphere building around the stadium and it just smelled of a typical 3rd Round FA Cup game. Had to wait in the rain for a while, waiting for the turnstiles to open, finally got in, straight into my seat, not the greatest view I’ve ever been given at a stadium, but I could see everything was right next to the Scousers. So here’s the view from seat 0004 -

This was about an hour prior to kick off, but within 20 minutes the place was half full and buzzing already. By the time the teams had gone in from their warm up to get ready the place was full, and the noise immense. Perhaps most of all, I was looking forward to hearing You’ll Never Walk Alone at Anfield, and the Liverpool fans didn’t disappoint, it was deafening, we tried to out sing them, but I stopped singing in amazement. Henry has talked in the past about how incredible the Anfield atmosphere is, and he was bang on. You could see he loved it when he walked out, spreading his arms out.

So, onto the match, for the first 30 minutes, we hardly attacked the Kop end, and just seemed to let Liverpool come at us, but they never really created anything. They had a few shots in anger and swung in a few crosses, but nothing to suggest we were ever in danger. You could see the Scousers were beginning to get frustrated, as were the Liverpool players. Then came the turning point, our first real good passing move, involving Hleb and Rosicky on the right, looking back at it on the TV, Liverpool left a big space for Hleb and he exploited it perfectly by rolling it into Rosicky who shot, it looped over the keeper and Half of the Anfield Road end went Berserk, I think I went more mad than when I did when Sol scored in Paris. Incredible, 1-0 up at Anfield.

Our joy and our lead was doubled just 8 minutes later when Rosicky got his second of the game, a fantastic individual effort, running in from the left, beating a few players and placing a shot in the bottom right corner, to perfection. 2-0 up at Anfield!!

Shortly after, the half-time whistle came. The Liverpool fans were in shock, as were we, if any of you travel to a lot of away games, you will know who Omar is, well he had his hands on his head. He couldn’t believe it either. After about 5 minutes of the break I was thinking if anyone will ring me, with me thinking a phone call will bring some sort of curse on the team and we were gonna mess it up in the second half, well I did get a phone call minutes later, and almost an hour later my theory was put to bed.

Before this however, the second half kicked off, and we knew Liverpool would throw everything at us, and they sort of did. I had said to myself that if we didn’t concede until the 75th minute, we would be in the 4th round, we fell just 4 minutes short of that target. It came from a corner, Crouch finally got the better of our defence and headed towards goal, and the hard working Kuyt helped it on into the net with a header. I thought they would get a goal, but at 2-0 I just kept saying to myself, they haven’t scored yet, so we’re still going through, but when they got one back, I thought a draw was the most likely result, mainly because we were very tired at this point, but they didn’t really go for it as much as they did in the first quarter of the second half, and they would pay the price. Justin Hoyte had been brought on at this time, as had Julip Baptista, The Beast’s first few touches were awful, but I think the game was in full flow at this point, and it wasn’t the best idea to bring him on, maybe Djourou could have come on and helped out in the centre. We began to see more of the ball again and we looked like we could break away at any time, we did this, clearing a corner or a cross, Rosicky ran with it and just sort of hit and hoped by kicking the ball towards the corner flag, it was a race between Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher, as we all know, a 2 legged cat could probably beat Jamie in a footrace on his day. Carragher had a big advantage of Henry though and the striker had a lot of work to do, by the time they got to the ball they were neck and neck and Thierry just barged him over onto his arse, sprant into the box, took a few touches, the last little touch being the crucial one past a defender and slotting it past Dudek. 3-1 game over, and I knew I could go nuts without having to worry about us messing up the game. People hugging me, screaming, mocking the Scousers, waving my scarf around, jumping a lot and the biggest smile you can imagine, that’s the only way I can describe the feeling after that goal.

Alot of the Liverpool fans left after this and we had a very nice time wishing them a nice trip home. All we could do was sing and wait for the final whistle, Walcott came on for Henry who was applauded by every Arsenal and Liverpool fan, which is a fantastic testament to his ability. Walcott had a few runs at the Liverpool defence which came of nothing, I think a Walcott goal would have killed me. Liverpool had a couple of corners but the game was well over by the time the added time came up. The final whistle came a few minutes later and we had beaten Liverpool at home, everyone had written us off before the game, and to win the way we did was very special.

I said in my preview it could be a day to remember and it certainly was. There is still a hell of a long way to Wembley, but we have knocked out one of the big boys and hopefully we will get a draw at home in the next round, against Blackpool or Bristol Rovers.

The players came over at the end and Rosicky threw his shirt into the crowd which was a nice gesture. Having said that, I wish the players would come over after every game to say thanks at least, even if we do lose. I forgot to mention in last weeks Sheffield report that the only player to clap the fans after the game was Flamini, just some acknowledgement is very much appreciated and its the least the lads could do for us, after all, we don’t have to travel the length and breadth of the country every week, so hopefully Wenger made a point to the players and they didn’t just do it because we won.

On the coach on the way home, we had a brick thrown at our coach which shattered the tinted window, and it had to be pulled down, luckily it was doubled glazed or it would have been a very cold journey home. Just shows what bad losers and what utter Wankers some Scousers can be, not all of them obviously, but there’s no need for it, just because you got done at home 3-1 by the Cockney boys, and you are out of the cup in third round. Oh yes.

Got back to Emirates about midnight, and headed home. A very long day, but one that will live long in the memory. We have Liverpool again on Tuesday, and to those who are making the long journey back up north, you are crazy. But good crazy. I’m not sure when I’m going away again, I was going to go to Blackburn on Saturday, but I’ve run out of money at the moment, so probably I will go to Villa or Everton, perhaps even Middlesboro.

Block 11 Player Ratings -

Almunia  – 7, Eboue – 6, Senderos – 7.5, Toure – 7.5, Clichy – 7, Hleb  – 7, Gilberto – 8, Flamini – 8, Block 11 Star Man – Rosicky – 8.5, Van Persie – 7, Henry – 7.5

Subs -

Hoyte – 7

Baptista – 6

Walcott – 5

If you read that all, fairplay. Thanks for reading, and I’ll have something about the Carling Cup game tomorrow.

See ya.

Liverpool v Arsenal Preview

I have had next to no time this week, so here is a ridiculously short preview.

The road to Wembley begins today, as we face in-form Liverpool at Anfield.

It should be a classic, after all we did beat them in ’71 at Wembley and they beat us nearly 6 years ago in the final at Cardiff, I still don’t know how.

Eboue and Baptista have returned from thier respective injuries.

Im not sure if either will start, perhaps Wenger will stick with Hoyte at right-back. I can’t see The Beast starting, but stranger things have happened.

Also Cesc Fabregas is suspended for todays game, and Van Persie is NOT.

Block 11 Match Prediction -

Liverpool 1 Arsenal 1

Right, Im off to Anfield, this could be a day to remember.

 Come you Gunnners!

Arsenal 4 Charlton 0 – Pardew, Pardew Whats the Score?

Thierry Henry’s return to the fold was marked with an easy 4-0 win over Charlton on Tuesday night, returning skipper Henry scored one himself, from the penalty spot, with goals from Robin van Persie (2) and Justin Hoyte’s first goal for the club.

Charlton were crap, they had no ambition whatsoever and even with 11 men it looked like we would score 4 or so eventually. We could have scored at least 3 goals in the opening 15 minutes, Gilberto saw a 25 yarder sail just over the bar. I think it was Senderos who had a header cleared off the line, Fabregas had a close range effort saved well by Carson, it was to be a busy night for the young Englishman.

Van Persie had a shot deflected wide, after a nice one-two with the fantastic Hleb. Just after this Fabregas floated in a lovely ball for Henry whose header hit the outside of the post and went out for a goal kick. Charlton rarely threatened and when they did it was either hapless or Dennis Rommendahl was on the ball, what a bloody terrible footballer.

The pressure finally took its toll on 30 minutes when Fabregas had a shot, it was deflected and I looked straight at the ref to see if he would give a corner, but the ball had looped up and hit the post or Carson saved it, it fell into the middle of the box, and Van Persie was just about to tap it in when Osei Sankofa pulled Robin back, it was a blatant penalty and all Mike Riley could do was send him off. Henry took the penalty and marked his return with his 8th goal of the season. Henry then ran to the bench where he had a dance with Adebayor. He also gave Wenger a high five, which was nice to see, and shut up any of them Wankers that think they had a massive bust up.

Five minutes before half time, Henry had a wonderful free-kick saved by Carson, somehow he got a hand to it, yet again showing his class between the sticks,

Arsenal doubled their lead just before the break, a very rare goal for right-back Justin Hoyte, I really like Justin as a player, not just because he is English, but because he’s a supporter of Arsenal as well as a player, so he has more idea of what it means to people, and he demonstrated that perfectly with his celebration.

He tries very hard for the team, and is improving each game. Also it’s more competition for Eboue and Lauren. The goal was very well worked, Hoyte and Henry combined very well, Justin raced down the right, found Henry in the channel, who slipped the ball in, Justin was one on one with Carson, and put the ball in the left corner very well, Hoyte said afterwards that he used to be a striker in his youth team days, so that probably explains the good finish.

So a comfortable lead at half time, and it was more of the same after the interval, with Henry and Hleb running the show. Rosicky was incredibly unlucky to hit the post, after good work from Henry. It could have been 3-0, when an excellent run from Hleb was rewarded when he slotted in Thierry who scored from 5 yards, or so we thought. The linesman gave it offside, I still haven’t seen it, but everyone who has seen it tells me it was onside, and easily.

Moments later, Henry had another chance from 6 yards, a great run from Van Persie into the box, he squared to Henry his shot was blocked and cleared of the line, a slight feeling of “Might we rue our missed chances” fell around the Emirates, Rosicky had another chance moments later, but he was blocked well by Carson, the On-loan stopper had saved his best save until last, when Henry was put into that position from where he has scored so many times, he dropped his shoulder and curled it to the keepers left, but Carson saved it yet again. Great stop. Which was followed by a hug.

Arsenal finally wrapped up the victory on 76 minutes, another penalty, Henry was brought down in the box, an easy decision for the ref yet again, and to send him off would have been very harsh and unecessary. Henry let Van Persie take the penalty, who smashed it into the net. A well deserved goal for him.

The night wasn’t over for the Dutch master just yet when he bagged himself a brace on 90 minutes. Sub Flamini found van Persie who cooly lifted it over Carson, who really didn’t deserve to concede four, his defence however should have conceded 10 goals at least.

Block 11 Player Ratings -

Lehmann – 6, Hoyte – 7.5, Toure – 7, Senderos – 6.5, Clichy – 6.5, Block 11 Star Man – Hleb  – 9, Rosicky – 8, Fabregas – 7.5, Gilberto – 7, Van Persie – 8, Henry – 8

Subs -

Flamini – 7

Denilson – 6

Aliadiere – 5

Wenger was obviously pleased with the result and had this to say on the performance -

“I feel overall we controlled the game. Technically it was a bit strange because it never opened up really, because they were down to 10 men and they were always worried not to concede more goals. So it was always played in a controlled way, pace-wise and technically. We had a great pressure on them always.”

Also, Le Boss commented on the long awaited return of Thierry Henry -

“I think they were happy to have him at the start of the game, but I think overall the team has done very well in the last five, six weeks, you know? I am convinced you will see a great Thierry Henry from now until May.”

It was a good win for us on Tuesday, but I still think we are far from the finished article, I dont want to criticise the boys after such a great performance but if we want to do well in this League we have to conquer those Cold Saturday evening games up north.

I’d just like to highlight a few players in particular from the Charlton game, which are Thierry Henry, Alex Hleb and Robin Van Persie. They all put in great performances on Tuesday, I think it was vital for Robin after his poor display at Sheffield, he was a handful for Charlton and he certainly did more that enough to earn his brace. When Alex Hleb plays well, things can go great for him, and for the team, when he plays bad, its terrible for him and for the team. He was certainly not poor on Tuesday, he was the dirving force of our attack and created an awful lot, he didn’t have any chances for himself, but he warranted a goal as much as anybody. Finally, Thierry, it was a superb return for him, it was the Thierry Henry we have been waiting to see all season. He is free of injuries and has had the pre-season he didnt have in August, at the time alot of us were saying its just excuses, but thinking about it, he is right and it made an awful lot of difference. Im 90% confident of a result up at Liverpool now, there will be a great buzz around the team now he is back, as well as the fans. I know Liverpool have a great home record but we Arsenal fans need an away performance to remember for good reasons. I think that’s what we’ll get on Saturday.

We have Liverpool next in the FA Cup, another one of those cold Saturday evening matches up north, another one of those which I will be attending, and I really cannot wait. More of that to come on Friday.

Until then.