Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Contests, Season Predictions, World Soccer Daily

Morning all. I don't really know what to write about today honestly. I went to bed all excited thinking, "Wow there's a match tomorrow plus I'll have time to write the blog in the morning, that sure sounds exciting," just to wake up and find that there really isn't that much to talk about.

First off, there is a radio show here in America about football called World Soccer Daily, hosted by Stephen Cohen and Kenny Hassan. I listen to it pretty regularly but yesterday Stephen (Chelski fan) said "Tottenham Hotspur will finish ahead of Arsenal this coming season." He's absolutely lost it. When's the last time Sp*rs have finished in the top four? I'm pretty sure they haven't finished above us since 1995. But I suppose it's good to set lofty goals, eh? They sold their captain and they're going to lose that sulking cunt Berbatov as well. Who is going to play striker, Darren Bent? You're havin a laugh. Cohen you wanker, go back to your Russian chums and stop making stupid comments like that one.

Anyways, moving on, I suppose we could talk about the match against Huddersfield today next. It's quite the drop off from Madrid and Juventus isn't it? You can tell though by how the squad is put together. It's almost all youngsters, and I don't mean youngsters plus Bendtner, Clichy, Sanga, Denilson, etc. The oldest players in the squad are Vela, Djourou and Theo, and everyone else is, for the most part, a reserve player. We have Little Jack in there as well as Aaron Ramsey, but it's basically another good chance to see what the youngsters can do.

Speaking of Jack, he's been given Gilberto's old number 19 which means he's listed officially as part of the first team squad. I guess not even Arsene Wenger could deny how well he's played this preseason and decided to include him in the first team. He could see a decent amount of action this year I think, with seven subs on the bench in the league plus hopefully a sustained Carling Cup run. Arsene always did say if you're good enough, you're old enough, and that's certainly the case with this young man. I really feel like I'm getting old, a kid five years younger than me is in the first team squad, whew.

Can you believe the first match that actually matters is one week away? We've got the Champion's League qualifying stages against FC Twente on the 13th! Exactly one week away and I can't wait. I'm even more excited about West Brom at home on the 16th to open the Premiership season. Football is finally back again!

Today I'd like to hear your season predictions. I want to know where you think Arsenal will finish, who the top scorer will be, how many goals he will have, and what (if any) trophies Arsenal will win. Let's get some discussion going on just how successful this team can be. Will Diaby or Denilson start next to Cesc? Will we bring in someone new? It's all crazy isn't it, which is why it's more fun to discuss with other mental Gooners.

Also, I'm going to have not one, but two new contests today, just off the top of my head here. Whoever can make up (make up, not steal off the internet, believe me I will check) the best new banner for the top of this site will receive an ArseNole Stein Mug which is absolutely fantastic. I have one myself and it's great looking and can hold coffee, beer, or whatever else you choose to drink. You can email it to me at ArseNole@{remove this}arsenole.com. So let's get lots of banners in so I can spruce up the site a bit. All you graphics people out there get to work.

The second contest is just about being humorous, if you can think up the funniest story about Wayne Rooney's death and put it in the comments, I'll pick whichever I think is the best and that person will receive some sort of Arsenal or ArseNole gift that I can come up with. I'll figure something out depending on just how good the stories are. Just leave it in the comments or you can email it to me, either way.

So there is lots to win today so get on your stories, your banners, and your season predictions. Good luck to the young guns today against Huddersfield and here's hoping Little Jack scores about 230582 goals. Cheers!

2 comments:

Lord Nacho said...

4 nil to the Arsenal today. It is going to be a good day. Cohen is a man I respect in terms of what he does for football here in the states, but there must be some hidden reason why he hates on Arsenal all the time. Either he used to get beat up by Arsenal fans in London as a child, or maybe his mother ran off with one, who knows, but the resentment lies deep. He always tries to deny it but at least he was somewhat realistic about the Chavs last season. Realistically I believe we can win the title but we are going to need to come out of the gates quickly just like last season to have a chance. I believe that if it is not us it will be Chealsea, they look scary good on paper and all Scolari does is win. They should also have a bit of a chip on their shoulder after the near misses last season. United will be without the winker for a while and although they will be strong I feel they will need to bring in Berbatov to seriously contend.
This will be the year we reach the CL final again I am sure of it. The premier league I am going to have to say 2nd, although I believe we can put it together.

Unknown said...

I don't listen to World Soccer Daily, but I do watch Fox Football Fone In when it's on. The show is good, but as is often the case, I don't know where Cohen is coming from.

I think Arsenal will be about the same as last season, and I don't think Spurs will be able to top the 83 points we had last season.

Either way, should be fun watching Cohen eat crow when Spurs disappoint once again.