Like all Gooners I am delighted by our start. All of the pro and con inputs regarding the team and players are great to read.
I have an observation regarding the Gunners schedule. I think we should be thankful that for most of the season the Home versus Away schedule favors us. If I have done the Math correctly it is 3-1,7-4,9-6,11-8,13-10,15-12,17-14, and then the crunch hits with a 2-5 run in.
If we had started out in reverse and suffered a start like last season, I am not sure that we would have recovered.
I feel our ACHILLES HEALS are Central Defense (what if K Toure gets a season ending injury) and Goalkeeper ( a great save is nullified by a complete screw up and Mad Jens and Mad Almunia have done both).
24 Responses to “The Schedule Helps Us”
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September 28th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Disagree. True, we had more home games at the early stage of season, but u still had to go out there and get the job done. From what I recall, we dropped some crucial points at home against some lowly sides at the early stage of season.
I also don’t like the WHAT IF who and who gets injuried theory. Injury is part and parcel of the game, and naturally it would hurt.
What IF C.Ronaldo gets a season ending injury?
What IF Gerrard gets a season ending injury?
What IF Drogba gets a season ending injury?
Our rivals, they too would suffer. But this soft of things nobody can worry about, it’s beyond anyone’s control.
Ideally, u want two Fabregas, two Kolo Toure in the team. I bet Man U would want two C.Ronaldo, Liverpool wants two Gerrard etc….
but it’s never going to happen.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:13 am
“we dropped some crucial points at home against some lowly sides at the early stage of season. ”
I meant last season.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:17 am
Home and away games would be even but for our away game at Newcastle being postponed due to the CL qualifier.
In the 6 games so far, we have been outplayed only in the second half at Blackburn. Every other game, we have been on top, including Tottenham where they had chances, but so did we.
If we continue in the same vein, there is no reason not to win at West Ham.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:29 am
If West Ham come out and attack, I would fancy our chance.
Having said that, I’d take it if we get a draw given it’s an away tie.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:34 am
I read a post from BBC msg board, and I feel it’s an interesting question being asked by the author.
Now before anyone said Mourinho, Wenger did the same (complaining about the ref), the POINT though, the author tried to make was - Mourinho, Wenger and the rest of the EPL managers would get PUNISHED. While Ferguson seems to be able to get away from it…. most of the time. WHY? Because he’s “Sir”?
———————————————————————————————————
The full artcle below:
Now before I begin, this is not an article to have a pop at the old geezer or to wind up any united fans.
However, I wrote an article a few weeks ago questioning the choice comments Sir Alex made after Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off against Portsmouth.
They were directed towards referee - Steve Bennet. These words included that Bennet “couldn’t wait” to send Ronaldo off and that he “took great satisfaction” in doing so.The article is here for anyone who wants to see : http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A26118...
Now a few weeks on, Im listening to TalkSport and I hear that Lawrie Sanchez from little old Fulham is being investigated by the FA over comments made about guess who?
The very same Steve Bennet :
news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foo…
Apparently Sanchez argued that “referees arent up to the job”.
Now what gripes me is that the FA are quick to jump on the words of Sanchez, which when you look at them, dont actually reference Bennet personally at all. They reference referees in general and no one can argue that Fulham have been on the wrong end of a few poor decisions this year.
Yet not an eyelid is batted over Fergusons personal attack on the character and integrity of Bennet. All this despite the general consensus, including my own, that Bennet got the decision to dismiss Ronaldo absolutely spot on.
My question to everyone is simply….Why??!
Accuse me of moaning if you like, it still wont answer the question as to why Ferguson has constantly got off the hook with things like this whereas even Wenger or Mourinho have been punished for the most minor of comments.
This coupled with Sundays events and the aftermath of that just dont sit well with me.
Does anyone have a genuine explaination for this???
September 28th, 2007 at 4:43 am
Between the big four, Fergie gets off with a lot simply because he is British. The same reason why Pires or Drogba will be vilified when they dive but it’s fine for Joe Cole or Rooney or Gerrard to do it.
September 28th, 2007 at 5:37 am
Its nothing new..people still moan about that “Pires dive” against Portsmouth in that 1-1 draw and conveniently forget everything Ronaldo did last year.
As for the schedule…yes it has been kind to us but we will suffer in November December with numerous tough away games. Lets c how the kids cope with that. I think Benitez definitely has a case..ManU never seem to suffer as much. Lets c what happens though…
September 28th, 2007 at 8:02 am
the schedule is beyond our control, so I like to go with ‘one game at a time’.
September 28th, 2007 at 8:07 am
If the schedule helps us now we will pay for it later. The best team wins over 38 games - end of.
September 28th, 2007 at 8:12 am
If the schedule helps us now, let’s make good use of it.
September 28th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Andez #4,
I disagree…..there is NO EXCUSE for us not to collect 3 points at Upton Park if we want to be true title challengers. I wouldn’t be happy with a draw.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:05 am
@ FM players,
heard that 08 is gonna release on Oct 26th. the new skin looks far better than 07.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Steven Cohen said something I agree with on World Soccer Daily on Monday - there are 36 points available for Arsenal between now and the end of the year. If we get in the neighborhood of 27-30 points earned in that period, then we are definitely in the drivers seat for league silverware.
We have to at least draw at Liverpool away and beat ManU and Chelsea at home. West Ham, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, and Everton, all away, are also key matches for us to win.
I think only City, Chelsea, and ManU away will be matches in the spring that are stacked against us in the odds dept, barring injury.
If we can stay healthy, the (really) young guys keep maturing, and play the football we are playing now most of the year…we could be having more than one or two celebratory pints come end of season.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Andez, the demo is out on Sunday. It would be good to see how much they have improved the game. Can’t wait for the release though, playing the game is like eating peanuts, you just can’t stop
As for the schedule, I don’t give a rat’s ass, Liverpool had the same fixtures(4 home, 2 away) and played against lower teams and we are still top of the league. As long as it stays like that, I don’t give a fuck if we play all the 38 games at home. lol
Enjoy the good start, no reason to search the negatives.
Up The Arse!!!
September 28th, 2007 at 11:03 am
sheed, do u know the release day (26 Oct) is truth? only heard it on BBC board. on FM site, it said it was before X’mas…
btw, that guy Oscar Ustari u and DT recommeded has been amazing! at one stage he was like unbeatable. i wonder if he’s really that good in real life.
September 28th, 2007 at 11:20 am
It should be in a couple of weeks, not more. Certainly before November, but I don’t know exactly.
As for Ustari, we should wait till he comes to Europe to judge him. He was linked with Barca in the last year, so he is probably a great talent.
September 28th, 2007 at 11:33 am
schedule this, schedule that. point is, you have to play when the schedule says so, against the team on the schedule, home or away. steven cohen is one who loves to point out that arsenal have barely left london so far this season, but he forgets to mention that there are 5 london teams in the PL and at the end of the day, his beloved chelsea would have played the same number of games in london as the arsenal! the league is 38 games long, we will play twice against all the other teams, just like everyone else. of course its nice to be top of the league early and “take advantage of our schedule”, but no matter when you play derby at home, you should get 3 points. no matter when you play fulham at home, you should get 3 points. no matter when you play blackburn away, one point is a good result (and it should have been 3!). i love the start of the season we are having, but let’s remember, things will get tough when they always do, at the end of the year, though boxing day and the winter cold, not to mention the crunch of the CL knockout stages and FA cup late rounds.
so, i dont want to hear about the schedule, a football season is a marathon not a sprint, i like to be in the lead as im sure we all do and i will continue to support the gunners no matter what, but more importantly, i will continue to enjoy our beautiful brand of football and hope that we are raising trophies in may, the only time the schedule matters for real.
and btw, did you see what the spurano jol is saying???
“… I feel it is more a matter of examples. If they see Tom Huddlestone, Aaron Lennon and Michael Dawson playing. I had the same last season and we still had 60 points. I have to combine the results with the development. Even at Arsenal that is not the case.
‘I feel we have more talented players than any other club. Maybe Arsenal have the same. (Abou) Diaby and Denilson come on when things are going well or in the Carling Cup.”
please!!!!!!! our carling cup side has more talent than the spuds first team! never has this been more evident: the best 2 teams in north london are arsenal and arsenal reserves!!!!”
go gunners! west ham 0-2 arsenal tomorrow at upton park
September 28th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Martin Jol gives me an impression he’s been trying his best to advertise himself…. you know, just in case….
And i feel the fact that he has always been so obsessed with what Arsene and Arsenal been doing is one reason of his downfall (e.g. last season he asked why AW never under pressure even result didn’t go our way).
Those things he said were also pretty silly as well. “I feel we have more talented players than any other club”…. When he said that wouldn’t it give ppl an impression that u have such a TALENTED side yet u r still sitting 3rd from the bottom…. clearly it had something to do with the manager being crap wouldn’t it? since ur team is so talented.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Perhaps he believes he could talk his way to top four!
September 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Yes, West Ham were our bogey team last season (still can’t believe we didn’t win at home — all those wasted chances!), but after our game against Sp*ds, I see no reason why the team can’t beat them through our newfound mix of grit, hard work and flair combined.
The Hammers labored to a last-minute 1-0 win on Wednesday and they’ll have to come out and attack. The home crowd will insist on it. I say, barring any Senderos freebies that get punished, the Gunners can take this, 2-1, with a goal in each half.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Sheed, Liverpool have played 3 at home and 3 away. Not like us 4 + 2.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Yeah, I saw that now, thanks.
But still they played agaist Sunderland, Birmingham and Derby, the three teams that won promotion. We have played only against Derby.
October 1st, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Looks like we’ll be making the deficit up in December when we’ve got 4 away games scheduled (Villa, Boro, Pomey and Everton) as well as tough home games against Spurs and Chelsea. That’s when we need to stay fit and make sure we’re playing better than we did against West Ham. They’re all winnable games though and we’ve got a fair amount of strength in depth as was seen in the Carling Cup last week. I agree though, CD is a big problem for us and will be worse in January when Kolo’s out. Bring in Micah Richards with some of the 70 million.
October 4th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Don’t downplay our current form and this year’s team chemistry and “togetherness” by saying the schedule helped us. Playing at home helps but don’t forget we DREW many of our home games last season AND always started off gifting a goal or two to our opposition before crawling back for a point. What made us so poor last season was our inability to make our home a fortress and ended up more like a charity - i mean how else would relegation battling West Ham managed to beat us 1-0 when they also just lost 6-0 recently to reading not too long ago?
Last season we got our priorities WRONG. We pulled a double over United (eventual EPL champs) and did well against the other two top 4 clubs, but we can’t get points from teams we should be beating. This season we are going back to basics, getting max results from games we should be winning, and thus our current position. Had the other three top 4 clubs done their share, they would be in a similar position with us.