How long till Barnet?
Written on 12 May 2008 by ClockEnd RyanEveryone knew that Flamini delayed signing for Milan until after they beat Inter and Fiorentina lost their game, which meant that Milan went 4th in the league and odds on to qualify for the CL next year. However, yesterday Milan got thumped 3-1 and Fiorentina won! This means with just one game to go, Milan are back in 5th, and have to pray that Fiorentina slip up against Torino who are 15th but safe from relegation – with Fiorentina gunning for the CL I’d be slightly nervous for my Thursday nights if I was Flamini! Although I do wish Matty all the best, it would be slightly amusing if he has to play in the UEFA cup next year as he so obviously left for the money. Fair enough, Milan are a ‘bigger’ club than Arsenal, but in footballing terms we have as much if not more chance of trophies, and Flamini was starting every match. I’ll be watching Italy with interest next Sunday….
As Block19er said yesterday, it was hilarious watching the 6-yard freekick incident yesterday at Sunderland, 10 bodies on the line. It wouldn’t have been quite so funny if the stakes were high, but that was the kind of day it was. Once again it was boiling sun in London, but as we went up north it turned freezing cold with fog - why is that?! I was fucking freezing standing in shorts and t-shirt watching the match.
Result of the day for me was Fulham staying up – firstly, I love the old school Craven Cottage and the fact it’s close to home, secondly it puts Birmingham’s Martin Taylor where he belongs – in a league for of cloggers. It’s a shame for Seb Larsson, who I always liked, but he’ll be back I’m sure.
That’s it for the season then – after the way this season has ended I cannot wait for next season – bring on Barnet!
Sunderland 0 - 1 Arsenal
Written on 11 May 2008 by Block19erWell the football season has come and gone in a flash and today Arsenal eked out one of those results we could have done with when we were racking up the draws in March. Sunderland grabbed the first chance but it was well wide, to be fair they did try and get it down and play football, when they weren’t kicking lumps out of us.
At one point one of their players really went in hard on Eboue, we all worried Eboue may have been injured, that would prevent us flogging him. As we held our breathe the stretcher came over, then the bed with St. Johns ambulance men, yes you guessed it Eboue is sprinting around moments later. That really was a low point, how embarrassing, I’m sure we didn’t drive 245 miles to see someone rolling around on the floor.
Once everyone had got over the shock of Eboue ‘nearly’ getting injured we got on with the football and Arsenal took control. Adebayor went close after 15 minutes and we had to wait until the 24th minute to take the lead.
It was Gilberto, you sense he has been rejuvenated by the thought of another season at Arsenal, who gave Theo the perfect ball. It was just between two defenders and Theo jinked in and out, as he does so well, to break through a put the ball over the onrushing keeper. THEO THEO THEO. Long live Kind Theo, you just know over the next 12 months (barring injury) this kid is gonna rule the Premier League, and take the England team by storm.
Sunderland were prevented from making any real challenges to our goal with a strong central midfield pairing of Gilberto and the ever improving Denilson. There was even time for a Senderos drive from outside the box and the Big Phil gave it a go at a bicycle kick from a corner. It would have been great for him to get a goal and both were not too far away.
It was a bitty second half and you could tell the season was over. Arsenal had golden opportunity to extend the lead just before the hour. It was a back pass from Sunderland that gave us a free kick from less than six yards. We were all looking for Van Persie or Toure but neither were on show. It looked like Ade was gonna jink it to Bendy who would have a crack, but it a twist of skill the ball was rolled to Gilberto, he had an open goal (well with 10 stranded bodies in the way) from 4 yards. He sliced it wide, ooooops, oh well. Personally I don’t think we have enough free kicks from 6 yards, it’s funny seeing players on £60k a week trying to work out what the fuck to do, perhaps there should be 1 madatory 6 yards free-kick in each game? The Yanks would love it!!
Soon after it was Ade, Bendy, then Walcott down the right of the box, he cut it back but nobody could reach it to tap it in. The final highlight of the season was to see Mark Randall for 10 minutes. He made a great impact and with Denilson and Gilberto to support him he had great licence to go forward. He had the ball in the back of the net virtually straight away, it was given offside, but it was a lovely finish from a tight angle. He then forced a last minute save from the Sunderland keeper. He looks like he can be a top player, if not for us, he’ll definitely be a Premier League player for many years to come.
Just to worry me Traore came on, on the left wing. Now they’ve been trying this for ages in the reserves. We’ve put up with Eboue in midfield all year. It is time we had wide midfielders in wide midfield. All this putting defenders there is bullshit as a long term plan. Walcott, Vela, Eduardo, Van Persie, Rosicky, + one more signing out wide. NO MORE FULL BACKS IN MIDFIELD!!
Overall a worthwhile trip, 3 points, a new star, and of course THEO THEO THEO.
The team left the field as they did at Old Trafford, with 3,000 grateful Gooners singing, WE LOVE YOU ARSENAL WE DO, WE LOVE YOU ARSENAL WE DO, OH ARSENAL WE LOVE YOU!
Thank you for a great season - next season = silverware.
Arsenal: Fabianski, Song, Senderos, Djourou, Clichy, Eboue (Randall 81), Denilson, Gilberto, Walcott, Adebayor, Bendtner (Traore 81). Subs Not Used: Mannone, Nordtveit, Barazite.
Goals: Walcott 24.
Booked: Clichy.
Att: 47,802.
Ref: Keith Stroud (Hampshire).
220 players in / Adebayor staying / Ben Arfa
Written on 10 May 2008 by JackTomorrow’s game is as much of a nothing game as we will ever have, so I can’t be bothered to waste much time talking about it. Sunderland’s season is over, ours is over.. hopefully a nice win and some players given opportunities.
Wenger has been talking to the official website:
“For me, 98 per cent of the squad will be here next season. And the two per cent have already gone. The rest are all under contract. If anybody wants to buy a player he has to call me. I can give you my number if you want because maybe some ignore that I have a phone. What is unbelievable is I’m sitting here [at the press conference and it is] like we have killed all the players. Yet when I go to my office I have 220 calls from players who want to come in.“
It’s silly season, we all know that, Wenger knows that - it seems the only ones who don’t are the press. The Adebayor demanding higher wages story we heard about yesterday appears to be what it always looked like - total bullshit. Adebayor said:
“I am very happy here. Reports which suggest I have threatened to quit are rubbish. I love the club and the fans. We have a great set of players here with a fantastic team spirit. We have had a good season but next season we want to go one better by winning a trophy.“
Good words to say.. hopefully they have some meaning behind them too. He has spent a lot of time talking about how grateful he is to Wenger, and how much he owes him - if he left for more money, that’s pretty poor in my book. Speaking about poor - Flamini has of course left for AC Milan.. and a lot of people have said there’s nothing too wrong about him leaving, he was at the end of his contract, and he always gave it 100%. I’m inclined to agree with that, but a small point - didn’t the Flamster spend a lot of the last 4 months telling anyone who would listen he wanted to stay at Arsenal, he loved the fans, he had made good friends, we had a good future.. etc etc? That is what annoys me.
It’s looking more and more like Hleb wants to leave - but like Arsene wants to stop him. I don’t see the point of having a player who is clearly talented but doesn’t want to be at the club playing for us. We wouldn’t get 100% from him, and as we have seen in the past few seasons, when Hleb has off days, he’s pretty shit. If we can get a nice amount of money for him, maybe if his attitude is like it is reported, he should go. Still - I think there’s a good chance that the talk we have heard is all agent bollocks - in which case it can be ignored. We’ll soon see. Wenger will do the right thing.
A player we have been strongly linked to recently and who Arsene has openly revealed he admires, is Ben Arfa. There were quite a lot of stories circulating this morning saying that we had sealed a deal for him, worth £16 million. It’s probably rubbish, but I’d like it to be true. I rate him highly, and he would be a good Hleb replacement - or even just addition to the squad, even if Hleb stays.
Couple of small points now - season ticket renewals are in, if you hadn’t seen yet. Prices have gone up, but only slightly. £25 in the lower tier I believe? Some stayed the same, some went up - 5% average increase I think I read.
Jermaine Jenas is still a twat, and insists Spurs can finish above Arsenal next season. Same old shit!
Jimmy Greaves also writing for the Sun (suppose that says it all) reckons Arsenal are staring into the abyss. It’s exactly this kind of article that really annoys me.. read it, and what utter utter wank. Tosser.
That’s all from me for now. Exam went ok on Friday I think, lots more to come now! I’ll try and keep a regular post up on Saturday’s. Come on the Arsenal.
End of season nothing game or what? & I’m off to Late Wembley
Written on 9 May 2008 by REDactionSunday’s game at Sunderland really is an end of season nothing game, win, lose or draw, we will end up 3rd in the league! And Sunderland are in a similar position, if they win, they could move up two places max & only drop one if they lose - but that’s also subject to Bolton beating the Chavs! So neither team has much to play for. I am more interested in the Pompey Fulham game than I am Arsenal!! I really want Fulham to stay up. I would guess Arsene will start with Fabianski in goal, then I would like to see Traore on the wing rather than Eboue, with Theo on the other wing. I really hope Arsene does not play Flamini (I am not sure what the situation is with him & if he is even coming back to the squad for this game?), but let’s look forward with Denilson in the middle again. Then I am sure he will give Bendtner another run out as well. And lets give a few other youngsters a run out: like Gibbs?
With Flam gone, Arsene has said he wants to keep Hleb, now out of those two, without any doubt, the player I would want to keep is Flam (so I have lost out on that one!!). Hleb is a very good, close ball, technical player, however, just look at his stats, the guy does not score enough goals & he only creates a few, nowhere near as many as Super Bob used to & I don’t think Hleb ever will. His agent has also now said he is off, so personally as long as Arsene gets some decent money for him & is able to use all of it for his replacement, I would say do it, lets try someone else. But if Hleb does stay, I will support him. The last thing we want to do is create problems & put thoughts into Cesc’s head, with Flam gone & Hleb going, Cesc may wonder what he should do next? Another player who I would not be surprised to see going in the summer: Ade!! I really don’t want him to go, but he does not seem like the loyal type of player like Kolo, he seems more like the “take the money” kind of guy, I can see him & his agent with the $$$ signs in their eyes as some other club does offer him £75K+ a week to play for them. Now I really hope he does not go, but I would not be at all surprised.
I was looking at the “on this day” page on arsenal.com for yesterday, & it was 6 years to the day yesterday that Wiltord scored that goal to make us win the league up at OT. That was a great night, even if I was sitting amongst the prawn sandwich brigade!!
And then in 2006, the England World Cup squad was announced: with a little Theo in it!! – Have we really had him that long already?
Something else I found out yesterday, Block19er’s wife is not only a Manc fan, not only a Manc fan that has a season ticket up at OT, but also a Manc fan that is going to Moscow!! What the fuck!! So Block19er has been shagging Mancs?? Where did the man get the courage to tell the rest of us about his very sordid personal life? I don’t know if I will ever be able to look at him in the same way again. Then again, maybe we should feel sorry for him?
I am not going to Sunderland on Sunday, instead, I am off to Late Wembley tomorrow to watch my team (Ebbsfleet) in the FA Trophy, I went to Wembley to watch the NFL game last Oct & I was NEVER going to go to an England game, so I thought the 1st time I would go to the new Wembley to watch football would be with Arsenal, how wrong I was, I am going as a proud owner of my football club!!
So that’s all from me today, the end of the season is upon us, so this is my last post for this season, I am not sure what Block19er wants over the summer? Will we all continue to post daily? Talking bollocks about the players we want to sign (& go). Take care & enjoy the weather whilst it lasts.
Barnet (a)
Buy the latest Arsenal kit
Sunderland (a)
