International Break Gives Us Time To Get Healthy

Yeah I probably just jinxed the team, because since I said that they'll probably all get injuries playing for their international teams. So if Fabregas, Sagna, Gallas, Song, Theo, and Arshy all come back with injuries, you know where you can point the blame. Right here. But really, think about it. After this break is over, we'll probably have Nasri back, hopefully Theo will be fit enough to go the full 90 minutes, and while Denilson is going to take longer to recover, it's at least 2 weeks worth of matches that he won't miss, if that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't.

Apparently there are some big football nations that could miss out on the World Cup, which I think is fantastic. Why? Because it makes it somewhat easier (hopefully) for the US to get out of the group stage. I think it'd be quite nice if we didn't have to play France or Portugal. Honestly though I like France because they always have so many Arsenal players, so I do hope they make it. Portugal can choke on dog shite and die though.

I've been rocking out to the Miley Cyrus song "Party in the USA" for like an hour. Yeah, I'm a 22 year old male listening to Miley Cyrus, so what? I'm a fan. You should like her too. Plus she's ballin rich and if it doesn't work out with me and Carlota Fabregas then I'll most likely go for Miley. Tell me you don't think she's hot and you'd be lying.

So after the international break our next five league matches are home to Birmingham, away to West Ham, home to Sp*rs, away to Wolves, and away to Sunderland. You'd like to think that Birmingham and Wolves would be three points pretty easily. If it doesn't work out that way you have to look at that as a disappointment. Sunderland and West Ham aren't nearly as good of a team as we are, but they are tricky teams to play on the road. You'd like to think we'd get six points from those as well, but I think I'd be happy enough with four.

The key match though is the one at home to the scum. Obviously Sp*rs are shit cunts and they almost never beat us. However, this year they are making an attempt to be less shit than they normally are and are currently ahead of us in the table, which makes this match really f'ing important. We also have a game in hand on the top three teams in the table right now, so if we won that we'd be in third right now. But about the Sp*rs match again, it's one that we have to win. A draw is not acceptable, and a loss should simply be out of the question. If we beat them, they turn right back into pretenders who aren't going to ever get near the top four. If they get a good result at the Emirates though, and we have to go to the shithole later in the year, they're going to get a real confidence boost and have the belief that they can hang in the top four. The best way of making sure we win would be if Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe were hit by busses, meteors, or a turtle-eating-pigeon before the match. So if you drive a bus, you know what to do. We'll all thank you later.

In other news, Mikael Silvestre says the best is yet to come from him. I suppose it's easy for him to say that since he's never been very good anyway. Also, Sol Campbell could start training with Arsenal to keep up his fitness while he has no club. I say he shouldn't be allowed to. Don't go sign with Notts County saying you "embrace their ambtion" and quit after one game. Sol's a looney.

"It will be great to train here and get fit. I've spoken to Arsene, hopefully we can get everything right and speak to the right people and get a couple of the physios and fitness guys to help me and train. My overall fitness is OK. But something else might happen before then."

That last part is him saying that he hopes Arsene will sign him. That's not going to happen. We have Djourou and Senderos who are both better than him and still can't get in the team. Sorry Sol, every since you left at halftime of that match a couple of years ago you lost all credibility among most Arsenal supporters. Piss off please.

On to other business besides Arsenal now.

If anyone knows about computers, this one is for you. My monitor shows everything giant now, and cuts off like half of what should be on the screen. I tried adjusting the display settings and resolution, but it hasn't fixed anything. I don't want to wait on the phone for hours with customer service if I don't have to, so if you know how to fix this then please get at me.

So I've been out of work for about three weeks now since baseball season ended (at least in the minor leagues.) If anyone knows of any job availability for someone with no real skills, hasn't gotten their college degree yet, and doesn't want to work long hours, then please let me know.

That's about all I've got for the day. Leave comments on any of this stuff and I promise I'll write back unless you are an absolute cunt. Peace!

No Defense for This Type of Defense

Well if you forgot we had a match yesterday, woke up knowing we didn't have Cesc or Adebayor, and saw that we had drawn 2-2 at Aston Villa, you would have thought it was a good result for us. However, if you actually watched the match, then you realize that we should have been able to hold on for a win. Was it our best performance? Hardly. But anytime you are up 2-0 in the second half you need to be stout enough to hold on for a win. Gallas brought down Agbonlahor for a penalty that Gareth Barry converted, and then our ultimate failure came in extra time. A cross came in from the right side to the left of the box and a simple one touch back in to the middle of the box for Zat Knight spelled our demise. He took the chance well and hit it right into the back of the net as the clock was about to run out.

Looking at the replay just makes you feel sick. It's the 92nd minute in a match that you are leading and we only have three defenders in our box when they are sending crosses in. Why are we so far up the pitch when there is so little time left while defending a lead? It's coming down to the wire and we're letting them pass it around in our box like they're on a damn training pitch. Can anyone really argue now that Senderos is not as good as Silvestre? What was the purpose of buying him? Did Wenger really still think he was a quality player or did he just want an extra body to put in defense? I can only imagine, but he just isn't very good.

While Arsene Wenger is still talking about winning the title, I think our goals must now change. Liverpool are ten points up on us halfway through the season, and are playing much better than us. And while we have shown that we can play with the best teams on our day, our consistency has been awful this year and a realistic expectation needs to be just qualification for the Champions League next season. We are three points behind Aston Villa and Manchester United now, with United having two games in hand. We have only nine wins and five losses so far, which is hardly a statistic to brag about. It will be an uphill battle with Villa playing so well, and I am hoping that a couple of buys in January will strengthen our squad enough to overtake them. In the end I still think we are the better team with better players, but it is the mental side of the game that we must adapt to in order to take back our Champions League spot.

While a lot of the fault does reside in our defence, our midfielders must also be back helping to close down and defend. When we only had three in the box on that last goal they were all defenders. You would hope that you would have some of your midfielders coming back to help in that situation but none of them are even close to the ball.

We've all been over who we think we need to bring in. Some have said Arteta, some have said Xabi Alonso, and still others have been wanting a defender. I think we could probably use all three, but I still want a defender more than anything. Gallas is very incosistent, Toure has not been at his best all year, and Silvestre is just not very good. The problem is, which defender would you buy? I'll leave that up to Arsene Wenger, because he is one of the best at finding talents from abroad. But let there be no doubt that we cannot continue like this.

I must have a little bit today on Bacary Sagna, who was truly inspired yesterday. I've always loved Sagna and he put on one of his best performances for Arsenal yesterday. He was brilliant from start to finish and definitely was man of the match for me. I also will give some credit to Denilson for taking the advantage when a little opening was given to him in the first half. Against the run of play, he struck and we took advantage of it. Credit to him.

So it's on to Portsmouth next, who have been pretty dreadful since Tony Adams took over, unfortunately for him. It is however, a chance we need to take to get three points. The January transfer window is only days away, and we may, for the first time in awhile, see some new players coming in in that window. We need to fight on. The Champions League is not far out of our reach and we have to want it more than Aston Villa wants it. Let's go Arsenal, Come on you Gunners!

Champions League Draw, And a Youngster Could Be Leaving

Morning all. 2-0 loss to Porto yesterday with a sub-par side shows us finishing second in the group. It really was an abject performance and I'm pretty sick of seeing a midfield of poor players (Song) and out of position players (Ramsey, Diaby). It didn't help that we had Clichy and Sagna out in defense either but the fact of the matter is the game didn't mean a whole lot since we were already qualified. Being in second though gives us an option of Roma, Panathanaikos, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Juventus in the first knockout round. Obviously you'd think the easiest draw out of all of those would be Panathanaikos, and it would also see a return for Gilberto Silva, who would certainly get a good reception. I'd like to see us draw them but I really wouldn't mind Roma or Juventus. Panathanikos finished top of their group over Inter Milan and looked really good throughout the group stages, so it wouldn't be an easy tie for certain but I think we are the better team there. Plus, I want to see Gilberto back. If we HAD finished top of the group, the possible opponents would have been Inter, Sporting Lisbon, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Lyon. Probably a bit easier as a whole considering you have the second leg at home then but that's what happens when you play a below par squad in a Champions League match, you lose.

So the draw for that knockout round will be made next Friday, and I'll try to get the results of that up right after they come out if possible. Who would you all like to see us face?

Johann Djourou says it doesn't matter to him that we finished second in the group.

"I don't think it matters.

"When you get through to the last 16 they're all great teams, so I don't think there's anyone in particular we want to avoid."

Right you are Johann and the moral of the story is to win the competition you have to get all the other teams out at some point anyway, so it doesn't really make much difference who you beat first.

In some young gunner news today, it appears Jay Simpson will be allowed to go out on loan, and it will probably be to a Premiership club. Hull and West Brom are thought to be the favorites to sign him for the rest of the season according to Sky Sports. I think it would be fantastic if he could go out and get some playing time for either of those teams, particularly Hull. Playing time at a young age is very valuable especially in a side that is overachieving and willing to go and attack like Hull is. If they put the offer in I really think Arsene should accept it. He won't play here so we might as well let him go somewhere and play in the same league to really see how he does.

And last but not least, Mike Silvestre says there is still time for the squad to "grow up" before the end of the season and win some silverware. Maybe if Silvestre was a better defender then it would help contribute to that hypothesis. Still though, his point is valid. There is still a lot of season left to go and we can still win the FA Cup, the League, or the Champions League.

C'mon you Gunners!

One more thing, if you are into theme parks then please do check out the link at the right for Amusement Life. They are a great up and coming hub for all amusement news, reviews, reports, and information. It's being run by my best friend, so please do check out his website. Cheers.

Blackburn Review and Walcott's Brilliance

Morning all, I'm finally back. I'd like to say I have a great excuse for not writing for almost a week, but my excuses aren't that good. Friday I just didn't get a chance to do my match preview, Saturday I woke up to watch the match and then coach my Under 8's to an 11-2 win, and yesterday I went to the Jaguar game. But today I'm back and hopefully I'll be able to keep it up.

So what has happened during my last post? Well we slaughtered Blackburn away 4-0. I have to say I was a little nervous going in. I always hate playing the teams that just try to kill us at all costs like Blackburn, Bolton, etc. I need not have been worried though. We played pretty fantastically throughout and Theo was on display again after his England hat trick midweek. His first little scamper and pass through to van Persie was magnificent. When I saw him pick out that pass it really showed some maturity from Theo because I don't think he would have made that pass in the past. So not only did he beat 3 or 4 defenders but he was able to finish it off in quality Arsenal style, and van Persie made no mistake with the finish. You can watch that fine goal here.

Adebayor of course got his hat trick. It was good for him to get off the mark and he did it in splendid fashion. I think most of the fans have forgiven (if not forgotten) his actions over the summer and I think if he has more games like this one it'll make it even easier to forgive.

So a great 4-0 and we're looking great even with a depleted squad. Granted it is still early and we haven't played any of the big teams, but for now we're looking good so you have to be happy with that. Third in the league behind the scousers and Chelski after four games is not a bad place to be.

We've got Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday for our first match in the group stages of the Champion's League. I'll get a match preview together for that tomorrow but looking ahead at the injury situation it looks like we could have Nasri out for sure as well as maybe Eboue and Clichy. Mikael Silvestre looks set to make his debut so if Clichy isn't able to go I'd guess that's where he will play. I honestly wish he would never ever play for Arsenal but I suppose if he makes it out onto the pitch without tripping and breaking his leg or something then it's going to be inevitable. What a shame. Kiev are a team that has a good chance to get a result. It's tough to play away in Ukraine, but the weather should be much better than it would be in say, November. I think we'll probably win, but I'll save my prediction for the morning.

Silvestre talks about the reasons he decided to come to Arsenal, which hopefully isn't to sabotage the squad or something sinister like that.

"Arsène Wenger wants me to play more centrally and that's fine by me. I wasn't having enough opportunities at United, even if Sir Alex Ferguson wanted me to stay. But I wanted to play a bit more which is why I felt it was time to move. I'll also have the chance to help the younger players. Experience comes naturally as you develop and the younger guys will look up to senior players like myself and William Gallas as we're the ones who have been around for a while."

Great...so our young players are looking up to Silvestre, the Man United lover, and Gallas, who played for Chelski and isn't even a good captain. Something is severely wrong there.

Not much else to write about today, but I'm thrilled with the Blackburn match and really hoping we'll get off to a good start in the group stages. Thoughts on Theo? I'd love to hear them. Cheers all. More tomorrow.

Arsene Wenger Has F***ing Lost It

Ok that is just about enough Arsene. I'm one of your biggest supporters and have stuck by you through the summer and every summer before when you have sold and let players leave without sufficiently replacing them, but this is the final straw. Letting Phillippe Senderos go to Milan on loan for the season is absolutely ridiculous. The Kolo-Gallas partnership DOES NOT WORK! And what have we been saying we need next to one of them (Kolo is by far the better choice), a big, strong defender who can handle long balls and headers! That's what Senderos does!

Signing Mikael Silvestre is supposed to be defensive cover, but that doesn't mean you let all the other defenders leave on loan! I wonder what Arsene is thinking...

"Hmmmm...you know our squad does seem a little thin, and our defense is shite, so we might as well let Djourou and Senderos go out on loan."

You've lost your mind Arsene. Big Phil gets a bad rap from a lot of Arsenal fans but he's a competent defender that certainly wouldn't be any worse than the awful William Gallas is doing right now. No, he isn't the fastest player on the pitch and he isn't that assured on the ball, but he can play the high balls and he's the only one strong enough to handle strikers like Drogba, etc. Kolo Toure is there to partner him and provide the speed for cover that Senderos doesn't have. That's why it is called a partnership, and the one we are using now doesn't work. It just doesn't. You can say they are both world class defenders, and some of the insane ones will even say that Gallas is better than Kolo (which he isn't), but they aren't a good pairing. So the candidate that would be the best replacement for Gallas in our squad is now being sent away for the year. Is that going to help his confidence? Certainly not. How much will he even get to play at Milan? I can't see how this benefits Arsenal or Senderos at all.

I'm freaking pissed off. I can deal with having to wait until the deadline to sign a midfielder but this is the last straw for me. Something needs to change. Arsene isn't running this club like he used to when we won things. Give me Tony Adams. This is shite.

Exactly my feelings Phil.

To clarify this post since nobody seems to understand it...I am not saying Arsenal will never win again. I am not saying that I will not support them because even if Arsenal was relegated to the Conference I'd still support them. I'm also not discrediting anything that Arsene Wenger has done for this club. The point of the article is that our defense has been consistently bad and now we are loaning out one of our best four defenders. It isn't a smart move.