Arsene Wenger's Failed Project

Removing the dead wood at Arsenal is something that basically every supporter has been calling for since about March of this year. I’ve talked to several of you on twitter and the list is long and varied as to who should be shipped out, but the general consensus is that we want most everyone gone. Denilson and Bendtner I think will both be on their way, and I don’t think anyone will be saddened if Rosicky, Denilson, Diaby, Vela, Arshavin, Almunia, and Squillaci follow them. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out fellas. Some people would add Clichy to that list as well, but I’ve always been a bit of a Clichy fan so it’s hard for me to put him on there, although if he and Nasri don’t sign new deals then they will be gone too.

Now that we’ve got the list together of who to ship out, let’s analyze the problem a little bit more. I think if you look at that list of players that aren’t up to scratch, it shows a problem with Arsene’s transfer dealings as a whole over the past couple of years. All of those signings, with the exception of Almunia, have been in the past 4 years. Wenger expected them to develop and build the foundation of a squad that would compete for the top honors in football, and it never materialized. Is it a case of poor scouting, poor transfer decisions, or just poor coaching? Sure, they have all had moments of greatness, Vela in the Carling Cup, Arshavin’s 4 goals at Anfield, etc…but the problem has been that none of them can be consistent enough to hold down a regular place in the team, much less compete for trophies.

The Invincibles, in my mind, was the culmination of Arsene Wenger’s first “project” at Arsenal. He had brought in the players, molded them into a team, coached them up, and reaped the rewards. He had taken players with a lot of talent and supplemented that with a lot of experience. For every young stud like Henry when he first arrived and Anelka, we had a Bergkamp and a Tony Adams. The problem with the current squad is there has never been that balance between youthful talent and energy to go with experienced players who have been through the wars. He sold off Vieira, Henry, Campbell, Lauren, and Gilberto, to replace them with the likes of Denilson, Diaby, Bendtner, and Eboue. When you look at it like that, this plan was destined for failure from the very start.

Arsene is coming to the close of his career, and much like most of the current squad, I believe his talents are waning. He has not shown the foresight and knowledge of the transfer market that we all assumed he had. We thought the genius would eventually show through and that his master plan would somehow come to fruition. It hasn’t, and it’s time for an overhaul. If Arsene Wenger is unwilling to change his ideas on how to put a team together, then it will require someone else making that change. He’s been a brilliant manager for us over the years but being stubborn year after year is absolutely mental. He’s so stuck on his ideas being correct that he is unwilling to branch out and accept that this time he might have been wrong.

I hope Arsene makes the right moves this summer and shakes up a lot of the current squad. Part of me is hopeful, thinking that it can’t get much worse than this and surely now Arsene has seen the error of his ways. Mostly though, I worry that almost nothing will change, that we’ll trot out a lineup on opening day next season with almost the exact same squad that collapsed this season. Maybe nothing will ever change while Arsene is in charge. But for now, we can all hope. Up the Gunners.

Carlota Will Be Supporting Arsenal vs Barca, but Birmingham Comes First

Being a blogger is like working as a web designer or a fashion designer. You really only work when you feel like it and if you don't work then nobody is really going to notice or care. Every once in a while you'll have a really great article and get a few comments, and other times you'll be lucky enough to piss off a whole group of people who will leave you angry comments, (just look at this post) but most of the time you're pretty much writing for yourself and a few other people who stumble upon your page and have nothing better to do. So for those of you who have accidentally rolled onto this page, here are a couple thoughts about Birmingham, Barcelona, and whatever else I think of.

Barcelona is the match everyone is talking about, but I'd argue that Birmingham is the more important one. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to the Barcelona match as much as anyone, but it's dangerous to overlook Birmingham just because Barcelona is a more attractive club. This weekend we'll be without Thomas Vermaelen, because of his suspension for a red card that should have never been, and without William Gallas, still out with injury. That leaves us with Sol Campbell and Mikael Silvestre. Not exactly a top class center back pairing for a big club. While Sol has done well, Silvestre should never be in the starting lineup for a team trying to win the league. The boss has indicated that he may rest Campbell for this match, which leaves us with Song and Silvestre in the back, which not only gives us a weak center back pairing but weakens our strength in midfield too, against a team that haven't lost at home since September. It's a scary possibility, and for a team that needs to win every match for the rest of the season, it's really making me nervous. The focus of the team needs to be 100% on Birmingham, and we can leave Barcelona until next Wednesday. Anything less than 100% will see us lose at St. Andrews and be out of the title race.

I have to give some thoughts on Eboue while I'm writing since I haven't given him his proper due since I've been out so long. I was one of the ones criticizing him last year for his poor (and sometimes completely dire) performances. Well this year he has completely changed his attitude, his performances, and my opinion of him. He's been nothing short of brilliant for us this year, whether he's in the front three or playing right back. His runs, his movement, and his work rate have made him one of my favorite players to see in the team. I'll go far enough as to say that without him, we wouldn't be where we are in the league right now this season. So fair play to Emmanuel Eboue, maybe my player of the season to this point.

The West Ham match last Saturday really gave me hope for the title challenge. We could have crumbled after Vemaelen's red card. It was a BS call, and we could have gone down to a team that is fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table, but we didn't. Almunia pulled out a moment of brilliance to save Diamanti's penalty, and the team stayed strong with Song and Campbell in defense. Then Cesc completed the victory by nailing that penalty after his strong run (aided by Eboue, who again was excellent.)

Speaking of Cesc, you'll remember that about seven months ago I had a post about marrying Cesc's sister, Carlota. Well as it turns out, she finally found that I had written that and I ended up talking to her a bit on twitter. She's a very nice young lady and said that Florida is a beautiful place. I'd have to agree with her. So cheers to you Carlota and if you're ever back in Florida dinner is on me.

Speaking of Carlota, and Cesc, and Arsenal...we play Barcelona in the Champions League! It's got to be one of the most exciting matchups in the history of, well, history. The best club in the world at the moment versus the team we all love and the team that plays by far the best football in England, if not the world. I like our chances, I have to say. Xavi and Iniesta versus Cesc and Nasri/Diaby/Denilson, Clichy versus Messi...the prospects are mouthwatering. I'll get into breaking it down more next Monday or Tuesday, but I will say that I think it will be one for the ages. Get your DVR's and your TiVo's ready to record, because these two matches should be ones you'll want to show to your grandkids one day. For the record, Carlota will be supporting Arsenal.

CarlotaFabregas @ArseNole I'll go to the two match and I'll support Arsenal, so don't hesitate it

That's about all I've got for today. Let's focus on that Birmingham match and the Barcelona match can wait until next week. Come on Arsenal, let's get it done!

Arsenal 3-0 Pompey Report

Hello all. Nice match yesterday wasn't it? It's great to see some of the younger players get a chance to play in the league games, especially when they take full advantage of their opportunities and we get a win. With everyone focused on Manchester United on Tuesday, this match had been pretty much forgotten about by most of the Arsenal community. It wasn't really a game we had to win, but win we did, and with some style.

The lineup was an interesting one.

Fabianski
Sagna-Song-Djourou-Eboue
Ramsey-Denilson
Walcott-Arshavin-Vela
Bendtner

The bench was all reserves as well, with the likes of Coquelin and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on the bench and no sign of Adebayor, Fabregas, Toure, or any of the regulars. You could definitely tell that the focus was on Tuesday's all-important match by the lineup.

We pretty much dominated the match throughout, and while Portsmouth had chances to score, Fabianski did well and Pompey's finishing was dreadful. They had several chances but none came that close to going in. Attacking, though, was where we were at our best. I thought Vela and Arshavin were outstanding, their movement and passing was great fun to watch, and Bendtner also had a good game, netting a header and a penalty.

Eboue looked really good attacking down the left and pretty assured in his defense, even though it is not his prefferred side. Having watched him at fullback a few times the past couple of weeks, it makes you realize what a mistake it is playing him in midfield. Eboue is a very good fullback who knows when to get forward. He is, however, a terrible midfielder, with no end product whatsoever and a poor decision maker. I wouldn't mind seeing him play left back against United. That's right, I'm supporting starting Eboue against United. Even though Gibbs has played pretty well, I think it'd be the right choice to go with.

After we were up 3-0 in the second half, we got to see the likes of Randall, Bischoff, and Fran Merida come on. It's a few players we haven't gotten to see a lot of so it's nice for them to get some experience in a real Premier League game.

Fabianski will be thrilled to have kept a clean sheet after the disatrous game against Liverpool, and I was really happy for him. With young keepers, you really need them to get confidence and keep it, because it really can affect them long term. With that said, this clean sheet will go a long way to helping his confidence and I really do think he can be a future Arsenal number 1. The way Almunia has been playing though, it could still be some time to wait, so lets hope he's ok with being the number 2 for a while.

Man of the match for me though was Carlos Vela. What a player that young man can be. I'm really surprised we don't see him come on more often than he does. He brings an added dimension of cleverness that not a lot of our current squad have with the ball. The goals he scores are usually spectacular, and his movement and strength is really good for being so young. Arsene certainly showed good vision signing him a couple of years ago, even though he couldn't get a work permit right away. It's looking like it's going to be well worth it.

We really miss Arshavin in the Champions League games. It's been said before, but his experience and quality is something we've desperately been needing. If he was eligible we could have played Cesc in his prefferred central midfield role and played Arshy in that support striker role, which he loves playing. Getting to see him next year against those European clubs should be a real treat, but we'll have to make do without him on Tuesday.

Ok that's it for today because I've got to go to work. I'll get up a Manc scum preview tomorrow, and some additional stuff the day of the match. Leave your thoughts on Vela, Arshavin, Ramsey, Fabianski, or anything else you want to discuss in the comments section. Cheers all. Have a good one.

Tottenham 0-0 Arsenal, Eboue Costs Arsenal Again

Another North London Derby, and another draw. While not nearly as traumatic as the first match against Sp*rs this season at the grove, this one was no more fun to watch. Eboue is once again to blame, as he was sent off for two yellow cards in the first half. The second one was just a stupid, stupid thing to do, as he tried to trip Modric when Modric tripped him. They were both booked and Eboue was sent off. He's a clueless cunt that has no place in top flight football, and I really wish he would never play for Arsenal again. Every time I see him in the lineup I know it's going to be almost like playing like ten men, and this time I guess he just wanted an early bath or just wasn't feeling like playing a match at all. I can't stand him. He's a diving, cheating, mindless wanker who I wish had never stepped foot into Arsenal Football Club. It's hard enough to win derbies as it is, and having ten men for an hour of the match doesn't make it any easier.

Adebayor went off injured as well in the first half which meant Bendtner had to come on. While Adebayor hasn't been in great form, he still scores a ton of goals (8 in 8 matches) against the scum. Clichy later went off injured when that cunt Darren Bent thought Clichy's head was the ball and smashed his head into it. He went off bleeding and Kieran Gibbs came on for his Premier League debut.

I don't have time to spell out everything that happened in the match line by line, but I will point out a few things.

I thought Almunia was fantastic today. After the collapse of the defense and the goalkeeping last time against Sp*rs it was great to see such a good performance from Almunia today. I've been saying that we don't need to buy a keeper and I still don't think we need to. I think Almunia has earned his spot and see no reason why he shouldn't keep it. He hasn't gotten to play behind a great defence since he began starting between the posts, and yet he has a pretty good record. Big ups to Manuel.

I thought the defense was good in general as well. While Tottenham certainly had some chances, they were mostly long shots or half chances. We also defended the corners pretty well, which as we know is our weakest spot. Any time you keep a clean sheet after being down a man for so long, you have to say it's a good defensive performance. Kolo and Gallas may have finally found some kind of a working system because it seems to have worked well the last two matches. Let's hope it continues.

Alexandre Song, for me, stood out. When I saw him starting in the midfield next to Denilson, I'll admit I was a little bummed to see him in there. Our options in the center were limited though, so Song it was, and he did not disappoint. I thought he broke up a lot of attacks well and generally did a good job protecting the back four, but I was most impressed with his work rate. Every time I saw him he was running try to make a play, and it's something we haven't seen enough of from this team this season. If you've read my blog very often, you know that I have not been the biggest fan of Alex, but if he continues to play the way he did today, then I will be more than appreciative of his services. I think without him today we would maybe not have been able to hold on to the clean sheet, so full credit to Mr. Song.


While our attacking was certainly not what you would hope for, it's understandable in a way seeing as we are without our best player in Cesc, our true right midfielder in Theo, Adebayor went off injured in the first half, Eboue gets himself sent off, and Arshavin was not match fit yet. At eleven on eleven, we probably score the goal that gets us three points today. With Theo or Cesc in, you certainly would have liked our chances. Even if Arshavin had been ready to come on I think we may have scraped it. Nasri was good today, but there just wasn't a lot in our attacking and it's somewhat easy to see why. I think as Eduardo (who was on the bench today, woohoo!), Theo, Cesc, and Arshavin work back into the squad you'll see those goals start to pile up for us. Let's just hope the defense can stay solid when that happens.

I think, due to Eboue's absolute retardedness, that we have to count this as a point gained instead of two points lost. We're four points back of Chelsea with thirteen games to go, so it is certainly not an insurmountable deficit to get to 4th spot. That 4th spot is absolutely critical.

Leave your thoughts on the game, Eboue, or anything else. Cheers.

Arshavin Isn't Coming to Arsenal, Eboue to Inter

Morning all. Remember wayyy wayyy back when we were supposedly after this young attacking midfielder that had been really impressive and the transfer saga was drawn out for over a month amid masses of speculation? Oh yeah, that was just this past summer with Samir Nasri. The same thing is now happening with Andrei Arshavin. Except this one has been even longer than the Nasri story. We've "been after Arshavin" since the Euros last summer and it's pretty much a struggle to even have to read through the articles about him coming anymore. I don't know how people can get excited reading transfer stories at all considering the amount pure shite that comes up on NewsNow and the like.

My personal feeling is this...if we were going to get Arshavin, the deal would have already been done and he would be here. What reason would there be that we wouldn't have completed the signing yet if we really wanted him? Some will say because his price is too high, but the price (20 million reportedly) is the same as it has always been reported so there should be no reason to expect it to change. Zenit have been very stubborn about the price they want for him and if Arsene isn't willing to pay that then he should move on to another target.

Arshavin's agent has not made things any easier either, constantly talking to the press and complaining about the lack of offers for his client. Now he's supposedly "warning Arsenal" because Zenit are trying to drive his price up. No shit. If anyone actually thinks Arshavin is worth 20 million they are mental. He does, thankfully, say that no clubs have made an offer for Arshavin, including Arsenal.

Zenit representatives had this to say:

"It's very difficult to discuss the Arshavin value.

"We want to get an adequate payment. We also need to see what player will be coming to us to replace Andrei."

Sky Sports reports that Zenit are currently talking to Arsenal about Arshavin yet in the article they produce no quotes to back up this statement.

It's all a bunch of crap and I almost feel sorry for the reporters who have to write stories about this same thing every single day. Then again I don't, because all of us have to read their useless shite every day.

Moral of the story is I don't think he'll be coming to Arsenal. Zenit want more than we are willing to pay and I can't see them lowering their price after keeping it the same for the last seven months. I really don't even know where he would fit into the squad. Yeah he could play in the middle while Cesc is out but what about when Cesc gets back? Of all of Wenger's "youth movement" the one I want to see lose playing time the least is Theo Walcott, so if Arshavin took his spot I wouldn't be happy at all.


In other news, Emmanuel Eboue says that Inter are interested in signing him. Hallelujah! Really though I can't see any legs to this story. Why would Jose Mourinho want to bring in Eboue? I guess if he really needed someone to keep the locker room entertained or something, but certainly not for his footballing prowess. If there is any truth to the story though then let's please ship him off as he brings nothing (or a little bit more than nothing, maybe) to the side.

Torino says that there is no chance that Alessandro Rosina will go on loan to Arsenal. Alrighty then, that clears that up.

Alright that's about enough for the day. Leave your thoughts on Arshavin, Eboue, Rosina, or anything else you wanna talk about. I swear I'll do a podcast one of these days when I get something interesting to talk about. For now though I'm going to go do pilates or something. I hear it will help my football. Cheers.

Arsenal Transfer Window Preview Part 2- January 2009

Morning all. Last day of 2008 has come and I'm still alive and if you're reading this so are you so congratulations on making it through another year. Yesterday I ran down the first half of our January transfer preview for Arsenal and today I'm going to finish that off with the second half of who we should buy and maybe even a little who we should sell. We did central defenders and central midfielders yesterday, so that leaves us our wide and attacking players for today.

Let's look at what we have so far out wide. We have Nasri, who is certainly a quality player as long as he can stay healthy, which hasn't been as much as you'd like. There is Eboue, who is really a right back and has been forced onto the wing and really isn't very effective out there. Rosicky is ALWAYS hurt and probably won't play for us anymore barring a miraculous recovery from his injury that has kept him out for a year. And of course we have Theo, who is out for a couple more months but he really looked great at the start of this year until the time of his injury. Diaby is also used out wide occasionally but he is a central midfielder and we really shouldn't accept having to play someone out of position so much.


So it is clear that we really could use a wide player, at least to add some depth while Theo is out and hopefully to create some competition for places with say, Eboue. There has been a ton of talk about Andrei Arshavin ever since Russia's run at Euro 2008. He was good at the Euro's, yes I'll give you that, but do we really know how he would adapt to the Premiership? He's 27 years old and would command a huge fee, yet he hasn't been tested in a top flight league. I'm going to come right out and say that I don't want Arsenal to buy Arshavin. Sp*rs bought Pavlyuchenko because of his performances in the Euro's alongside Arshavin and he hasn't worked out great for them. I just don't see him as the best option and I hope we look somewhere else. That somewhere else could be Mikel Arteta of Everton. Reports are in already that we will make a 12 million pound bid for him, which could be enough to get him from Everton. He's a huge player for them who they won't want to part with but for the right price they would have to accept, especially since the player would most likely want to come play for Arsenal. He's been playing in the Premiership for a long time so he has that needed experience which would hopefully mean he could make an immeadiate impact. He is very versatile as well meaning that he could play in Cesc's role while he is injured and move out wide or alongside him when Cesc returns. He's also good on set pieces and he really just looks like a better option to me. Another option I could think of hasn't had as much talk as the other two but as I said yesterday, Valencia are strapped for cash and a very good player on their team just happens to play on the wing. I'm talking about Silva, who plays with Cesc for Spain. I have no idea what kind of fee he would command but he is a great player and would surely benefit any team he was in.

Moving on to the strikers and you'd have to say that if we were totally set for players in a posititon then it would be at striker. We have two good strikers in RvP and Adebayor who can get the job done at the top flight as well as Eduardo, plus some youngsters like Carlos Vela and Nicklas Bendtner in waiting. I'll admit though that I'm not a big Bendtner fan. I think he gives off the impression that he is not trying hard a lot of times when he is on the pitch and it really bothers me. A lot of times when he plays it is up front by himself and when you're up top by yourself it really requires a lot of movement from you, which he doesn't seem to have. Sure he scores the odd good goal sometimes but I think his attitude of entitlement is a problem and if we received a decent offer for him I suggest we take it. If we were to bring in a striker, which we won't, then my personal choice would be Sergio "Kun" Aguero.

Last but not least we need to talk about which players we want leaving if we had our choice. Players that are not Arsenal calibre who are playing for Arsenal and should not be. Alex Song immeadiately springs to mind. He's not good enough in midfield or in defense to ever be a first eleven player and really makes me nervous even when he comes on in reserve or as a sub. When you look at other top clubs do you see players of Alex Song's skill level? Not really, and if there is one, then they don't play nearly as much as Song does for us. I also think Eboue would do well with a change of scenery. He hasn't really improved on the wing ever since he was moved there and he certainly won't ever be better than Sagna at right back. He's decent cover but even when Sagna has been out the boss has chosen to use other people instead of him at right back, which should tell you something. As I mentioned, I don't think Bendtner has much of a future here at Arsenal and I think an offer for him would see him gone.

Now by point behind this is that we can't afford to sell ANY players without having signed or having every intention of signing quality replacements for them. Our squad has shown that it is too then and we really need to grow it not sell more. We sold Hleb, Gilberto, and Flamini (I know, he left, he wasn't sold) without really bringing in any replacements and we can't have that again.


So that's about it. The transfer window opens in 12 hours, while we'll all be ringing in the New Year. I hope all of you have a fantastic 2009 and that Arsenal do as well. Everyone drink up, hook up, do drugs if that is your thing, just make it a great start to the New Year! Make sure you check out the forums if you never have or leave a comment and let me know what your thoughts are! Cheers! I'll leave you with this video to go into the New Year. Warning: Semi-offensive and also hilarious material.

Eduardo Returns Tomorrow!

Hooray, the day has finally arrived. Well actually it is still a day away but we can start the official countdown now. Eduardo is making his long awaited return to playing for Arsenal, albeit in the reserves. After that horrific injury he went through I think everyone has been looking forward to see how he would recover and come back and he's recovered more quickly than I thought he could have. He's been in training for a while now and Arsene Wenger thinks he's ready to take to the field in a match situation, and I can't wait.

I'll admit, before Eduardo's injury I wasn't his biggest fan. Not saying I didn't like the guy, he just wasn't my favorite player, but now he's right up there. How can you not respect and like a guy who fights back from an injury like that? Plus he is a good, proven goal scorer and we could certainly use that. I'm certainly going to be nervous every time someone goes in for a tackle on him though. I'm sure he will too but hopefully he is not too apprehensive and gets through it without any problems. A lot of times after you recover from an injury you play trying NOT to get hurt and not playing naturally and a lot of times those are the times you end up getting injured, so we'll hope he is in a good state mentally. I haven't heard an interview with him lately so I really don't know how he is feeling but I'm sure he's glad to be back.

I hope nobody expects too much from him. Remember that he hasn't played since February and his leg was horribly injured and it's his first match back. Successfully completing 45 minutes should be considered a success and should help him get his confidence back in his ability to use the leg in a match. Anything he can do on top of that is just fantastic and I can't wait to see him back for the first team soon. We're all rooting for you Eddy, knock em dead!

In other news, Emmanuel Eboue says he is going to silence the fans who were booing him at the Emirates.

"It was sad. I did not expect that reaction from the public because I have always given all for Arsenal. But I am a professional and I have respect for the reactions of the crowd. The manager has encouraged me in the last few days and told me that you get over these things by working harder and fighting. He has promised me that if I give 200 per cent in every game, the fans will applaud me again."

Yes indeed, the fans will applaud you if you give 200 per cent in every game. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be your thing really so we'll see if you stick to it. Fans cheer for players who give everything for the team, so try it.

And the last thing for today is Salamanca wanting to take Carlos Vela on loan again. He's been on loan there last season but I can't see him being sent out again this year. Our squad really isn't deep enough to lose anymore players so I'll expect him to stay with Arsenal. He's a great player with a great future and I hope we get to see more of him in the weeks to come.

That's all I've got for today. I'll probably try to get something up tomorrow so I'll talk to you then. Everyone support Eduardo tomorrow! Cheers.

More Reaction To Eboue, and More

Morning all. It seems people still want to talk about what happened with Emmanuel Eboue in the match Saturday, and since there isn't much else to write about today, that's what we'll continue with. I said yesterday that paying fans should be allowed to boo if they want, and when a player plays terribly and/or doesn't show effort, then why should he not be booed? Just because they play for Arsenal means ANY type of performance is acceptable and we should just clap them off? The way I see it, we want players who want to play hard and play well for Arsenal, and while everyone has a bad game once in awhile, Eboue's appearance Saturday was absoultely abject.

Richard Williams of the Guardian says that Eboue's treatment was unfair and his tears shamed all of the booing fans. Richard Williams is wrong. There is not a single case I can think of where it would be acceptable behaviour for a proffessional footballer to cry over being booed, no matter who does it. You get paid more than most of us can even dream to do something most of us would do for free, playing for Arsenal. Man up Eboue. Crying like you are ten years old and just missed a penalty is not going to make anyone feel sorry for you and regret booing your shite performance. Man's game bitch. Eboue isn't good enough to play in our first team anyway, and if we actually had a deeper squad he probably wouldn't, so it's not like this is his first bad performance for Arsenal. If you pay tons of money for tickets and you get pissed off at Eboue, go ahead and boo him. He needs to play better or accept criticism better.

Emmanuel Adebayor says it doesn't matter how we play, it just matters if we win. I think he's half right. We all want to play beautifully yes, but I think more importantly we want to win. It'd be nice if we could always do both, but that isn't going to happen. I think against the sides that go out to defend against us we need to have a "score at all costs" motto going into it. These seem to be the games where we have great build up play that leads to nothing. In the second half of the season we really need to get results against these weaker teams and Adebayor is right on there, we need to win, not play beautifully.

So we have a match against Porto tomorrow that will determine who finishes top of our Champions League group. It's a rare match we can all enjoy without any stress at all. We're already qualified and I don't really think it matters much if you finish 1st or 2nd in the group. You have to beat every team left in it anyway at some point, so I don't think it matters in what order they fall. I'd like to see Kolo get to play with Djourou again, and I'd suspect some fringe players like Bendtner and/or Vela will get to play. I think we can get a win. We beat them 4-0 at the Grove and we are the better team. It is tough to play in Portugal though, so it may turn out to be a draw. Either way I'll just enjoy watching the match.

And for the people like C10-Goona who think you are not an Arsenal supporter if you don't agree with their definition of a supporter, please go read another blog or just keep your mouth shut on this one. Just because I have an opinion different from yours does not mean I am not a supporter. I don't think I would write an Arsenal blog for over a year if I wasn't a fan. I don't have that kind of time and neither does anyone else. So like I said, Arsenal fans need to quit telling other Arsenal fans they are "not supporters" or should "go support Chelsea" because it's just stupid. Last I checked there isn't a chairman of Arsenal fans that decides whether you are a fan or not. So please shut your mouth or get a new site to comment on.

That's about it for the day. Hope for a win tomorrow and hope Chelsea, Liverpool, and United all lose just because life is better that way. Cheers.

Rosicky Out Until At Least March, Eduardo Back Soon

Morning all. Bad news today. Coming off our 1-0 win over Wigan we find out today that Tomas Rosicky will be out until at least March. He's been out since last January so it'll be at least a 14 month recovery (longer than Eduardo's broken leg) for a hamstring injury. I think it is fairly safe to say that Tomas' career is in serious jeopardy. They have set dates for his return before now and each time they have pushed it back so we really can't even hold our breath for march. It's a shame that he's injured, but he's had a habit of that since coming to Arsenal and honestly I'm more worried about the health of Arsenal as a whole than the health of Rosicky's hamstring. Being injured really messed us up last year as we were short of wide players going into the title stretch. It's also forced us to buy Samir Nasri (who I think is a great player) when we maybe could and would have normally used it to buy a defender or central midfielder. If he doesn't make it back before the end of the season, then I can't see him ever playing another match for Arsenal. His constant injury problems make him not worth the quality he provides when healthy. So for his sake and the team's, let's hope he can make it back by March.


In better injury news though, Eduardo will be playing in only eight days! Arsene Wenger says he'll play December 16th against the Portsmouth reserves. I'm pretty excited about watching it (thanks ArsenalTV Online) and I'm really really hoping he comes through with flying colors. He's been out so long with such a devastating injury and you don't really know how he'll react to being out in a competitive situation again. The best analogy I could come up with was Top Gun. In Top Gun, when Goose and Maverick eject from the plane and Goose slams into the canopy and is killed, it really rattles Maverick, just like Eduardo's injury will have undoubtebly rattled him. Viper gets him back in the air though as soon as possible but Maverick is still a little tentative and not at his best, but with time he becomes more comfortable being back where he belongs and succeeds in battle. Eduardo, too, will be a bit nervous about his leg and how it will react to playing a match. With time though he'll feel comfortable on it and make a full recovery, and return to top goal-scoring form. Good luck Eddy, can't wait to have you back. I put in the great clip from Top Gun here in case you haven't seen it.

One last thing, Kolo Toure wants the fans to lay off the "heckling" of Eboue. In all fairness, it was his first game back in six weeks but when you play badly then people are well within their rights to boo you. If you pay for a ticket to the match you should be able to boo someone for a poor performance. Eboue was absoultely awful on Saturday and the boos were warranted. You never see a player substituted on and then back off later in the match, and he was. That just shows you how bad he was. If he can't handle a few boos then he is in the wrong proffession. Man up Eboue and play better, and try harder, and then you won't hear the boos. If you keep playing how you have played for us for the last year or so though, it will continue.


That's about all I've got. Maybe I'll do a podcast at the end of the week but I haven't decided yet. We'll see if I get enough emails from you all. ArseNole{@}arsenole.com. Cheers.

Wenger Loves Eboue, Fabregas Review

Morning all. I'm right tired this morning honestly so this one may not be as long as usual. It sucks not having any matches to look forward to. Can you believe it thought this blog is almost one year old now. Next month will be one whole year. Ridiculous.

Arsene Wenger enlightened all of us who were baffled as to how he could keep playing Eboue on the wing. He said that you cannot only go by assists and goals but by how the team plays and how many team goals and chances there are. He said Eboue brings defensive balance to an offensive side, but I'd say he's lost his mind. He compared Eboue to Ray Parlour saying that Parlour didn't score many goals on the right side either. First of all, Parlour scored more than Eboue does for sure, plus he was just a better f'ing player Arsene! Also, Parlour was a central midfielder so I don't know what on Earth Wenger is talking about. Moral of the story is that now we know why Wenger plays Eboue, because he thinks that he's the new Ray Parlour. You're an idiot Arsene (in this case).

For those of you interested in what happened during the recording of The Cesc Fabregas Show, there is a good report on it here. Basically he won new kits for the enitre audience, answered questions, talked about his past, said the goal against AC Milan was his most important goal, and said he would like David Villa at Arsenal. Yes, he really said that. He was asked if he could bring back one player with him from the Euro's who would it be, and he said David Villa. Would be nice Cesc.

Gael Clichy is reportedly very close to signing a new 4 year extension on his contract, which is great news. Sagna and Clichy have both been reported to be getting new contracts and as we have seen with Hleb and Flamini, it's really important for us to tie down our best players for as long as possible.

"We're at the end of our discussions," Clichy told www.francefootball.fr. "Everything's going well because my intention is clear: I want to stay at Arsenal."

Now that attitude is just what we want to hear! Just one more reason of many to love Clichy. He continued to say that he'd love to stay at Arsenal for a long time and leave a mark on the club like Vieira and Henry.

There have been reports of Emmanuel Adebayor wanting to go to Milan and Madrid, and recently they have been Barcelona. Ade again shot those down with a response on Arsenal.com.

I don’t know why people want to put words in my mouth. As I said on Friday, I love Arsenal and I will be here next season. I am off to Togo tomorrow but will return to Arsenal for pre-season training in July.

I feel for the guy. I wish the Spanish press wasn't as bad every transfer season. We lose one star striker to Barcelona and the very next summer they're after another striker of ours. Ade wants to stay thought so we won't have any Henry-like departures for Barca this year.

Mad Jens is in the news again, and he's talking about Manuel Almunia yet again. This time it's actually nice though, telling him not to take anything personally and that the competition in the past year will help Manuel to improve. He said if he sees him in the summer or anytime after he can shake his hand and there will be no problem between them. That's good to hear because I was sure Jens wanted to murder Almunia last year.

Ok so now time for round three of player reviews, starring Cesc Fabregas.

In the Past: Fabregas came to Arsenal in 2003 after starting as a youth at Barcelona. Wenger snapped him up when he was sixteen and put him in the Youth Academy. He was something of a prodigy though and made his first appearance on October 23rd, 2003 in the League Cup versus Rotherham United. This made him Arsenal's youngest ever player at sixteen years, 177 days. He became the youngest goalscorer not long after in a win against Wolves that same season. Once Patrick Vieira left, Fabregas really got to shine in the first team, with the climax of the transition coming in the Champion's League when we were drawn against Juventus and Cesc completely out shined the former Gunners captain. In 2006/2007 he made 13 assists in the league which was good enough for second in that category. He was also named Arsenal's Player of the Season that year and was named in the UEFA Team of the Year.

This Season: This season Fabregas had, by most people's opinions, his best season as a footballer. He won the O2 Player of the Month award for the first three months of the season while chalking up many goals for a player that hadn't scored many for us in the past. He made 45 total appearances, scoring 13 goals and making 24 assists, 19 of those coming in the league, which is tops. He was at his best earlier in the season, when he was putting in goals almost every match. He stepped up in big moments as well, scoring the decisive goal in the San Siro to beat AC Milan in the Champion's League, the only English team to ever win against them there.


Next Season: Fabregas is the essential part of our team that we can't play without right now. If you watch matches where he isn't playing the movement seems to be off as well as the pace of the attacks. He dictates almost the entire game for Arsenal and his passing skill allows us to play our high pace, passing style. The day we lost Cesc Fabregas is a sad, sad day indeed. For now though, he is still only 21 years old and (scarily for other teams) he will keep on improving. I expect him yet again to be our best player in the coming season and to be the key in our drive for trophies. Keep it up Lord Fabregas.

One last note, I'm still looking for contributers for the upcoming ArseNole podcast. If you would like to co-host with me I am looking for one and if anyone can think of anything funny or interesting to put on there that would be great. Just add it on the comments, forums, or email me, ArseNole@arsenole.com