Liverpool 4 – 1 Arsenal
March 31, 2007 | 62 Comments
A “horrendous” performance sees the Gunners embarrassed by a Peter Crouch hat trick as Liverpool pasted Arsenal 4-1 at Anfield this morning.
Not one player showed up today. Not one. It was by far the worst performance yet this season. Yes, even worse than Sheffield Utd away.
Van Persie Out For Remainder Of Season
March 30, 2007 | 12 Comments
Arsene Wenger admitted to Arsenal.com yesterday that Robin van Persie will most likely miss the remainder of the season as a result of the foot injury he suffered while scoring the equalizing goal against Man U at The Grove back in January.
“The end of April now looks optimistic,” the manager told Arsenal TV Online on Thursday. “It is likely he will be out for the season.
“We have spoken to the doctors and they told us that the longer you keep this kind of fracture without playing the less chance you have of a recurrence. So if he can play only one or two games then we will not take a gamble.”
I can’t say I’m all that surprised, but I am disappointed. Van Persie’s nose for goal is sorely missed, and while it may have only been the matches against Chelsea and Pompey, those 6 points could make all the difference between finishing 2nd or 4th.
Adebayor Cut From Togo National Team
March 27, 2007 | 6 Comments
BBC Sport is reporting that Emmanuel Adebayor and two Togo teammates have been kicked out of the national team following a row over bonus payments. The full story can be viewed at
According to ESPN’s Soccernet, “Adebayor, who scored twice in Togo’s 3-1 weekend victory over Sierra Leone in Lome, has said he was considering his international future after receiving death threats when he threatened to boycott Saturday’s African Nations Cup qualifier.”
Personally, I don’t care, actually, and selfishly, I’d rather he not play international football, and that goes for all the other Gunners. That’s a bigger topic for lots of discussion.
Ian Wright Wright Wright ’s got a brand new bag
March 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Arsenal legend Ian Wright is the new co-host on UK radio’s talksport’s “Drive”. Wrighty made his debut today. Check out the podcast here:
Everton 1 – 0 Arsenal
March 19, 2007 | 39 Comments
Sorry not to post this sooner, but Arsenal’s performance yesterday did nothing to ease my hangover, and so I went to bed immediately following the match. Anyway, as everyone knows by now, we have no goal scorers, and as such, we lost 1-0 to a scrappy Everton team determined not to lose at home.
Aliadiere missed his second sitter in as many games, and for some reason, Rosicky was never brought into the match. The back four formation was ridiculous. Why continue to play Gilbo back there? Hleb continues to make the wrong decision when playing in and around the penalty area. Oh, and to make matters worse, Theo’s now out for the rest of the season.
Just in time for an international break. Yeah! How I hate them so.
The one bright spot from yesterday’s match was the play of Abou Diaby. The midfielder seems to be back to full health, and really did have some moments where it looked like Paddy Vieira out there for the Gunners. Adebayor will be back against Liverpool, but who’ll be paired with him up front? Baptista? Aliadiere? Gunnersaurus?
Everton – Arsenal
March 18, 2007 | 67 Comments
Another tough trip away.. this time to Goodison Park where the fans will be major part. If we can beat the Toffees and Pool next week I think third place should be more or less settled and we can try and get as close to Chelsea as we can and if they drop a few points maybe even challenge for second place.
Andy Johnson will be a pest up front and will probably play in a 4-5-1 upfront and chase everything from start to end. If we can shut Mikel Arteta up they probably wont score in open play as they have hardly anyone else going forward that often with the injury to Cahill. Beattie might come on late if Everton are down. Leon Osman will probably play off AJ but that apart I dont see too much of an attacking thread. They are however excellent in the air and one of the most dangerous teams at set pieces so any stupid free kicks will be punished.. …sometime.
Coming to us .. Is the Beast injured or not?? If he is we’re sickeningly short of strikers and Ali will have to play alone up front with Freddie in support. Dont know how we’ll score with noone to finish up chances that Hleb n Rosicky might create. I seriously hope Kolo n Gallas play in central defense with Hoyte wide right n some one left .. Flamini ideally. But it’ll probably be Djouruou right n Hoyte left.
Not too much more to write really apart from the fact that we’ll probably either win it 1-0 or lose it 1-0 with a set piece header. If Kolo n Gallas can stop Everton from scoring I think we might just nick this again with a Freddie goal in the first half.
Everton 0 Arsenal 1
Aston Villa 0 – 1 Arsenal
March 14, 2007 | 34 Comments
Abou Diaby deflected Julio Baptista’s 9th minute shot past Thomas Sorensen to give the Gunners an early lead. They then proceeded to hold onto that slender lead for the next 81 minutes plus stoppage. In so doing, they earned a valuable three points which sees them leapfrog Liverpool into third place in the Prem.
I’m watching the replay right now, and with the lack of scoring touch on the pitch, it’s a wonder Arsenal managed to score a goal at all. In all honesty, this was exactly the type of game Arsenal would normally either draw or lose, so to pull a win out away from home is just what the doctor ordered.
It’s away again on Sunday, this time at Everton. Let’s hope the Gunners prove just the hangover cure I’ll surely be in need of. Kickoff is noon ET, and the match will be shown live here in the US on Fox Soccer Channel.
Aston Villa v Arsenal
March 14, 2007 | 24 Comments
Its been a quiet week in terms of there not being any Arsenal games at all. I watched a bit of the Boro game and a bit of the Spurs game and in both games I turned off the TV halfway when Boro and Spurs were leading. This was because I knew it would at least be level by the time it ended. True to the script ManU got a penalty and the easier team in the semis and Chelsea refused to quit .. yet again and evened it up with some help from Martin Jol. Kinda wished that we were playing specially after Blackburn beat City but maybe its good in a way that the kids are playing with a little bit less pressure of a game every 3 days.
We have 7 players out but with the Flamster and Hoyte coming back to the squad it means a bit more solidity defensively. Toure and Clichy both out suspended which means that we are without our first choice back 4 YET AGAIN. This is the primary reason why we’ve been leaking goals from everywhere.
I expect Djourou to start in the center with Gallas with Traore on the left and Hoyte on the right. My only fear is that Agbonlahor plays wide right in a 4-3-3 for Villa and is pacy so Traore has to keep up with him and try not to foul anywhere near the area.
Mozart will probably come off the bench and Walcott as well. If Walcott starts it will be up front not on the wing. If this happens it means almost a guaranteed bye-bye for Ali in the transfer window that he can’t make it even as a fourth choice striker. I’d like to see Ali wide left ahead of Freddie be given a go but it probably wont happen.
If Gilberto plays as center half I’d love to see Diaby get a go, ahead of Flamini playing alongside Fabregas. Don’t know if it’ll happen though. Hleb needs a good game especially after 80% of the entire Arsenal internet community feels that he is the sole reason we lost out against PSV. Total rubbish if you ask me but that’s the way it goes…sadly.
Gallas has come out and shot his mouth off. Ground preparing to get out to AC Milan?? I don’t know but I think he’s still mentally in the Chelsea mode where everyone slated everyone in public which motivated them. Doesn’t always work with kids though..which is probably why AW doesnt do it.
AW says “He’s lost a little bit” . I can understand where he’s coming from and while its a sign of weakness to many I hope that he knows where the problematic 5% is. If he does then I’m not really worried at all because I know he’ll fix it.
Titi staying for life…Great news. Period. Wishing he comes back to full fitness by August next year.
This is what I expect the Professor to put out against Villa though:
Walcott Baptista
Freddie Gilberto Cesc Hleb
Traore/Flamini Gallas Djourou Hoyte
Lehmann
Bench: Almunia , Mozart , Ali , Denilson , Sendy
A lot has been made of John Carew and the fact that he dumped us out of the CL a few years ago. I remember me just starting to watch Arsenal seriously around that time and feeling bad that we were losing but not as bad as I feel nowadays. I feel they’ll score at least 1 .. point is Can we outscore them??? I don’t know…I don’t feel confident but we still might do it. Just about. Petrov is a decent fit wide left as is Agbonlahor on the right and Villa are a very resilient team under O’Neill so we’re gonna have to grind this one out.
I think we’ll do it…JUST…
Aston Villa 1 – 2 Arsenal
Titi out until 07-08 season
March 9, 2007 | 36 Comments
This could make securing 4th place a bit harder…
from Arsenal.com
Thierry Henry will not play for Arsenal again this season.
The French striker damaged groin and stomach muscles in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven and, as a consequence, will miss the next three months of domestic and international football. Arsenal hope to have him back to full fitness for the start of the 2007-08 campaign.
Thierry Henry will be out for a minimum of three months,’ said Arsene Wenger on Friday afternoon. ‘Unfortunately this means he will now miss the rest of this season both domestically and internationally, but we are confident that he will be ready for the start of next season.’”
What Now?
March 9, 2007 | 63 Comments
Arsenal’s season crashed in the last 11 days. That does not mean this Arsenal team is finished. Far from it. We have seen so many talented players come through – RvP, Cesc, Diaby, Clichy, to name a few. I believe we are ready to explode. But we need a few finishing touches. I see the problems as two fold – personnel and philosophy.
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