Arshavin inspiring, Arsenal aspiring March 15, 2009
Posted by freekicker in Almunia, Arsenal, Arshavin, Bendtner, Blackburn Rovers, Carlos Vela, Clichy, Denilson, Diaby, Djourou, Eboue, Gael Clichy, Sagna, Samir Nasri, Song, Theo, Theo Walcott, Toure, Vela, Walcott.1 comment so far
The best match of the season and except for Bendtner missing all those chances every single player in an Arsenal jersey on the field player exceptionaly well. Clean entertainment for all fans and neutrals alike, class and style was oozing in every move.
Arshavin was no doubt the man of the match followed very closely by Samir Nasri and Song!!! Ya Song had a very very good match and maybe he is improving at the right time for the team. Walcott has his best match after his comeback and Eboue played a cameo which he will never foget in his lifetime with two goals in this match. Almunia made some crucial saves and our back four were very consistent. The team that started was
Almunia
Sagna Toure Djourou Clichy
Walcott Denilson Song Arshavin
Nasri
Bendtner
Nasri fit well into the slot behind Bendtner and Arshavin also found himself in that role quite often. Nasri had a freekick rebounding of the cross bar and was involved in every Arsenal move forward along with Arshavin and Walcott who seems to be returning to his speedy ways. Diaby, Vela and Eboue replaced Walcott, Bendtner and Nasri towards the end. If Bendtner had not missed out on his chances we would have won this match some 10-0. Great stuff from the Gunners and the home crowd had a good match to remember for a long long time.
Though the first goal was also credited to Arshavin it was rebounded off a Blackburn defender. And when the second half resumed Arsenal produced chance after chance and it was in the 65th minute that Arshavin the star scored his first goal for the team and what a goal it was. Denilson’s measured pass found him on the right flank and then he meandered through the Blackburn defence and feinted the last defender and from a narrow angle hit the roof of the goal. This is what he has brought in the club to do, trickery and clever play from the Russian.
Bendtner’s luck at goal meant that he will be replaced by Vela who produced a cross from the right side which found Arshavin on the left and his shot on goal was saved and Eboue was available for the tap in. That was 3-0. And the last goal was again a Vela creation as he was fouled inside the box and guess who took the penalty, Emmanuel Eboue – The stadium announcer said “The new Arsenal Goal machine, Emmanuel”!!!Well Football can surprise anyone and this team means business now.
But it has been a long time since any Gooner would have gone to sleep with satisfaction after watching an Arsenal match. Tonight is one of those nights, so enjoy it wherever you are.
One for Clichy March 7, 2009
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Clichy, Denilson, Gael Clichy, The Guardian.3 comments
It is not everyday that you get some stats and funda on one of my favourite players in the team – Clichy. It seems with 118 interceptions he intercepted the most number of passes in the premier league so far!!! Well done Clichy and keep it up. So many times you have seen him charging on the opposition player and stealing the ball or intercepting it.
And the number two in that list is Denilson (!!!) with 109 interceptions. Wow for him too.
Well done guys and lets keep the winning momentum going. Here is the complete article from Guardian
Hull Culled January 19, 2009
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Gael Clichy, Hull, Hull City, Van Persie.add a comment
In the end it was 3 points and 3 goals (seems like a long time since we scored more than a goal in a match). Sweet revenge for the defeat at Emirates which was a shocker at that time. HUll almost came back and gave some nervous moments before Nasri and Bendtner scored no. 2 and 3.
Van Persie was instrumental in all the three goals as he is proving to be a very important cog in the wheel in most of the Arsenal victories this season. First one was perfect corner which was nodded in by Adebayor. Second one was a great assist from Persie which sent Nasri clear on the left which was slotted in nicely. The third one came from the right side of the field in a nice one two with Bendtner putting in the 3rd one towards the end of the match.
But Cousin who scored the winner at Emirates, again equalised in the first half to make the match closer than it actually was till Nasri scored. Clichy is to be blamed for not closing in on the player before he crossed to Cousin. Today we were not punished for that mistake.
In other matches, our prime rival Aston Villa came from behind to win against Sunderland. Man United showed their edge when they scored the only goal of the match and maybe in the most climatic finish Chelsea came back from behind to beat Stoke byb two goals to one. Well lets hope there will be a fe weekends before the other 4 drop points and we win!
A fitting reply in Europe…but doubts persist October 2, 2008
Posted by freekicker in Adebayor, Arsenal, Champions League, FC Porto, Gael Clichy, Gallas, Van Persie, Walcott.add a comment
Arsenal beat possibly their toughest group opponents in their group in Europe, Porto by 4 goals. “Complete performance” termed it Wenger, but I still feel that Porto did have their chances and a better team would have made this core line look like 4-3 or 4-2.
Standout performance to me came from Theo Walcott. Everytime he had the ball there was an excitement. He has improved quite a bit and I feel this year he will score some goals and assists. Well he better…
It is nice to see both your key strikers scoring goals and Adebayor did have some chances to score a hat-trick but he missed out. He provided an assist to Van P for his goal.
Fabregas was regaining his touch with some awesome through balls. I thought he had a very good match and he is getting used to playing next to Denilson.
The doubts I have are on our defensive form. Though Wenger came out and praised the defence a day before the Hull match, I seriously feel that they lack the discipline, especially from Gallas. There was a specific incident where Gallas went ahead on the left side and passed it to Nasri who lost possesion. Porto were starting an attack and our man Gallas was leisurely coming back to the line when Porto forced a save out of Almunia. Gallas should have rushed back to protect the goal instead of hopping back to the backline. Sometime I feel he needs to be shouted at. I still have this grudge against him for shouting at Clichy(one of my fav Gunners) for giving away a last minute penalty against Birmingham, which started the slide last season.
We need to win consistently in the league to top it and the next one against Sunderland will take us a step closer to that goal.
2008-09 Season: Contenders – II August 15, 2008
Posted by freekicker in 2008-09 season, Aaron Ramsey, Adebayor, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, EPL, Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Gerrard, Liverpool, Rafa Benitez, Robbie Keane, Song.add a comment
Liverpool
Having finished the league without any honours, Liverpool will once again start their campaign in the hope that they will be able to challenge for the Premiership. Rafa’s primary target was to get Gareth Barry from Villa but the owners were not keen on shelling out 18 mil on him, instead they bought a proven striker in Robbie Keane. I seriously believe that Keane and Torres would be able to provide the goods upfront with Gerrard also contributing. But if you leave out these three and to some extent Mascherano the team is hardly any quality. With Gerrard not in the team they struggled against their Champions League qualifier opponent also.
Rafa Benitez is never known to make any sensible buys except for lets give it to him, Torres. But in Reina they have one of the best goal keepers in the league. And he has kept them in contention in a lot of matches, including their last competitive fixture. They have bought Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund – free), Andrea Dossena (Udinese – undisclosed), Vincent Lucas Weijl (AZ Alkmaar – undisclosed) Diego Cavalieri (Palmeiras – undisclosed) and David Ngog (PSG – £1.4m) other than Robbie Keane. But honestly how many of them will finally make us sit up and take notice, needs to be seen.
Prediction: Finish 4th
Arsenal
When you get beaten in the Champions League by some controversial penalty decisions and you finish 3rd in the league, you wonder if the team did very well despite some stars leaving the team and some very crucial injuries. Eduardo, Robin van Persie, Tomas Rosicky and Bacary Sagna were among the injured for most of the season and except for Eduardo and Rosicky everyone will be fit once again. Though at the start of the season the players on the injured list include Cesc Fabregas, Rosicky, Diaby and new signing Bischoff. the other one missing is the Olympian, Alex Song.
There has been many a comment passed on why Arsenal is not buying a defensive midfielder to replace Flamini and a central defender as cover for Toure or Gallas. Wenger probably believes that he has the back up for the defensive part and has made his intention clear in getting a holding midfielder before the next leg of the Champion’s League encounter with Twente FC. There are just three new signings – Aaron Ramsey (Cardiff – £5m), Samir Nasri (Marseille – £11m), Amaury Bischoff (Werder Bremen – undisclosed) of which Nasri is probably the only proven player, bouhg to replace Hleb. He has Carlos Vela back from loan who has experienced the La Liga last year. But Wenger will probably be thinking that Persie and Rosicky are back from injury and are like two new signings. Walcott’s biggest problem has been his inconsistency and he will get more starts than last year hopefully. Bendtner would be waiting in the wings to pounce on any let off from Ade or Persie. The team is strong once we buy a new holding midfielder and I cannot wait to see the match against West Brom though Fabregas is not starting.
Prediction: 2nd place in the League and probably Champions League winners 
My team for this season
Almunia
Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy
Walcott New-signing Fabregas Rosicky
Adebayor Persie
Arsenal start training & the new Villa kit July 8, 2008
Posted by freekicker in Aaron Ramsey, Acorns, Arsenal, Arsenal Training Ground, Arsene Wenger, Aston Villa, Clichy, Gael Clichy, Theo Walcott, Walcott, Wenger.4 comments
Arsenal first started training today at their training ground.
Walcott, the new no.14 and Clichy doing the drills
Ramsey was all ears to some wise words from Wenger!!!
Aston Villa finally launched their new kit with the acorns logo. Hats off to them!!!
A strong message to other teams and foreign money bags September 3, 2007
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, EPL, Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Portsmouth, Rosicky.2 comments
When the going gets tough the tough gets going. It was one of the strongest performance from Arsenal and it was best when we were reduced to 10 men. It was as if the 10 players from Arsenal were equivalent to the 11 fro Pompey. A classic open match with Arsenal attacking even when they were down to 10 men. Final score 3-1.
Senderos and Toure (in particular) had a wonderful match and it is a pity that they along with Almunia (who is playing like a champion goalie) could not keep a clean shit due to a very very freak goal. But Almunia kept the Utakas of the world outside the goal for the rest of the evening. A fine performance by the back four. Flamini was defending well and looked good going forward too. Clichy is an early contender for Player of the year for Arsenal. He is very hard working, super fast and yesterday he delivered some telling crosses. If only Diaby knew where the goal was.
Rosicky had one of his best matches and I am glad he also scored a goal. He was instrumental in many counter-attacks and trust me running with Clichy is not the easiest of the tasks. His goal taken from a quickly taken free-kick caught the Portsmouth team off-guard and the ball went right through the legs of Glen Johnson of Chelsea fame. Adebayor’s coolly taken penalty was a delight and it is nice to see him open his account for the year. He just needs to be a bit more adventurous in front of the goal and he will have goals in two figures by the end of the season.
The second goal came from Fabregas who held onto the second ball from the corner and turned and pinned it to the back of the net. Fabregas is having a glorious season so far and his goals are speaking for it.
Post match comments from Arsene :
“I made a tape of him last year and you wouldn’t believe the chances Fàbregas had,” Wenger said. “In some matches, he had three. When he was a young boy, he scored a lot of goals, but sometimes it disappears. But it always comes back when you mature physically, mentally and are less nervous in front of goal. He has a lot of characteristics of Paul Scholes: his frame, intelligence in the game, passing ability and knowing when to go in the box.”
Quite true.
Senderos was very unlucky as he had the feeblest of touches on Kanu who made a big deal out of it. But I think he should not get overly worried about it because he had a very decent match prior to it. And it was the second half that opened up Arsenal’s passing play.
Portsmouth had two tough matches against Chelsea and Man U so you can say that they were quite soft in their approach play but Arsenal also had really tough matches against some of the better performing teams this season (Man City, Fulham, Blackburn). And it is nice to go into a 2 week break sitting second on the table on goal difference.
This also comes at a time when David Dein & Co had cast their evil eyes one club. Its high time Wenger came out strong against his friend and his intentions.
A job well done August 16, 2007
Posted by freekicker in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, EPL, Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Hleb, Lehmann, Man U, Sagna, Sparta Prague, Tevez.12 comments
Arsenal won the 1st leg of the Champions League qualifying beating Sparta Prague 2-0. Both the goals coming in the last quarter of play and the last goal was the last piece of action in the match. Goals came from Fabregas who says 95% of that goal belongs to Clichy, which is quite true and from Hleb which was the culmination of a good long throw from Lehmann to Sagna and this was Sagna’s first assist for an Arsenal goal.
It was a very scrappy match with respect to the tackles thrown in and the physical approach to the whole game. Fabergas was involved in all the three key incidents. He was involved in the tackle with Sparta’s captain, Tomas Repka, who was substituted shortly. He did give his piece if mind to Fabregas before he left, but he cannot complain, it was a good sliding tackle from both players and it was just that Repka was in the receiving end of it. With all the booing from the crowd following that Fabregas scored the first goal. Later he was involved in the other end where he made a very strong tackle inside the box following a corner.
Hleb scored his second Arsenal goal in consecutive matches which should do his confidence a lot of good. This was courtesy a very typical Arsenal counter-attack which caught Sparta by surprise. Both the goals were assists from the full backs and Wenger must be happy.
Post Match Wenger has been talking about the resilience in the team and the fighting spirit in the team. I would like to see how they play against the big-three in the league. If they go a goal down against Chelsea would they fight back? Well lets hope such a scenario doesnt happen
In other matches in the EPL, Man U drew again. Tevez made his debut in Man U jersey and was instrumental in the Man U goal. He controlled, put down the challenges from the defender and presented the ball to Scholes to slam it in.
Ronaldogot sent-off for head butting, which means the Champions of last year are in for a tough time with Rooney also unavailable. The 3 matches that Ronaldo will miss are the Manchester Derby away, Tottenham and Sunderland at home. The season is taking some really interesting turns in the begining, wonder how it will end!!!
