Tag Archives: Arsene Wenger

by | March 8, 2014 · 9:00 am

FA Cup: Everton (h) – Team News, Thoughts And Predicted Starting XI

Jack’s grace and curious facial expression will be sorely missed.

Morning, folks.

Picture the scene; a tall, gangly Bristoilan barely able to keep his eyes open is writing this post at 3am. Having spent the night playing poker and occasionally bursting into glorious dance to records by Ke$ha - that happened, deal with it – I’m absolutely shattered, but instead of heading to a deserved slumber, I’m jotting this preview for you.

Dedicated, aren’t I? Well.. truth be told, folks; I can’t face having to get up to write this in time for the game today, so I’m boldly pushing through the exhaustion and the urge to dance again to do it whilst I have the will.

The game today is massive to such an extent I daren’t allow myself to ponder the ramifications should the result not be favourable. Arsenal are in 3 competitions and, realistically, two of them are beyond us – the league not so much, but the Champions League will need divine intervention to enable progression. Continue reading →

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by | March 2, 2014 · 3:18 pm

And Sanogo Puts It Into Orbit…. Arsenal Fall To Poor Defeat.

“Yaya, what have I told you about leaning back before you strike the ball?!”

Afternoon folks.

Apologies for the lateness of post again today. You may lay the blame at the door of my future wife this time. Truthfully, I’m glad of the extra time to write today’s entry. There’s a bewildering ocean of opinion out there and without a little time to think for yourself it would be easy to sink to the bottom.

Losing at Stoke is bad enough. Accusations of “roughing us up” and howls of derision aimed toward the dubious penalty award might be justified in some respects, but the bottom line is Arsenal didn’t play well, didn’t create chances and, on the whole, looked lethargic and disinterested. As much as I can understand the need to find an explanation that enables the blame to be put elsewhere, it is absolutely wrong. We can hold responsible no one other than the players that took to the field.  Continue reading →

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by | February 25, 2014 · 9:00 am

Arsene Wenger’s New Contract and Mesut Ozil: Drive Angry

Mesut waited patiently for Oliver Holt to exit The Mirror’s offices.

Morning, folks.

Unabashedly, I have days where finding a topic to discuss, or scribing something remotely salient, escapes me. When these days arise, as one has currently, there’s a figure sat behind the keyboard of this blog with an incredibly stupid look on his face, as if someone has turned his power off and left him there. That’s me,folks; a motionless idiot. For a good period of time I have stared into the abyss hoping for inspiration.

I didn’t blunder across one story that raised a smile. According to certain reports, Mesut Ozil ran over a reporter. It’s funny just reading it. By all acounts, it’s a whole lot of nothing which is a little disappointing in a way. Imagine the hilarity had he hit Mirror sensationalist, Oliver Holt. I picture Mesut speeding away into the sunset leaving only a crumpled heap of Holt and a fractured alice-band on the side of the road. Priceless.  Continue reading →

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by | February 3, 2014 · 9:00 am

Top of The Ox, Cazorla’s Form and Curious Kallstrom Admission.

The Ox wheels away in delight. Nice legs, Speroni…

Morning, folks.

Just what the Doctor ordered. A delicious, spirit-enriching victory was consumed by supporters yesterday and now all is right in the world. Birds sing, the sky is blue, children frolic in meadows. Happy days.

Perhaps that’s taken it a little too far. Drawing at Southampton was greeted with such incredible dismay that I just assume a routine, relatively formulaic victory at home would be received in the opposite manner. Can you imagine what will happen if we lose or win in a big game? The mind boggles.

Beating Crystal Palace yesterday was expected. Home fixtures against sides considerably lower down the league table invariably are. Continue reading →

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by | January 27, 2014 · 9:00 am

Draxler Rumours Hotting Up, Liverpool In The Cup and Podolski

“There’s a new rumour out! SCRAMBLE!!”

Morning, folks.

There’s quite the abundance of rumour today. As the horrors of January’s window head into the last stretch, everything becomes heightened; speculation doubles, hopes rise and the whole sorry saga transforms into farce. As an Arsenal fan hoping to see our title bid bolstered by a new addition, I’m finding myself at the point of beginning to hope we might do something.

Arsene certainly is a wily character. He’s not known for being one that offers anything other to the Press than what he wants the world to hear. Behind closed doors his activity – or lack of – is guarded with secrecy – I like to think of him as the Christopher Nolan of the footballing world. Le Boss might say one thing, but you can never truly be sure wether it’s the truth, or simply just the cautious I-don’t-want-to-say-anything-that’ll-f*ck-things-up approach.

The rumours surrounding Julian Draxler won’t relent. Continue reading →

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by | January 22, 2014 · 9:00 am

The Great Wenger Debate and £35m offer for Draxler.

Tumble along, tumbly tumbleweeds.

Morning, folks.

Out there it’s a desolate wasteland of news. As we head towards the weekend things are sure to pick up as team news for Friday trickles out and we all try to guess who’ll play in the FA Cup against Coventry. Until then, I’m a little at a loss regarding subject matter today.

So, perhaps foolishly, I looked to Twitter for guidance – an idea about as sensible as setting your foot on fire and trying to kick yourself in the face. What horrors awaited me when I gazed helplessly at my timeline? Well… other than some incredibly puerile remarks attributed to Big Ted (not me in any way, I can assure you of that), I was met with furious debates raging for hours at a time regarding contract offer – allegedly – presented to Arsene Wenger and a bumper offer being readied for Julian Draxler.  Continue reading →

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by | January 21, 2014 · 9:00 am

Jonkers Conquers, Plonkers and Transfer Bonkers.

As London Colney exploded, it was clear there had been a huge misunderstanding.

 Morning, folks.

Today’s post will be cruelly short or mercifully brief depending on how you look at it. There’s a plethora of vapid tasks for me to undertake this morning and I’m afraid they are of pressing concern  - I must type with haste.

The main news is the recruitment of youth development coach Andries Jonker from German side Wolfsburg – the 51-year-old Dutchman worked there as assistant manager. Knowing precious little about our ‘new signing’ I did a little research and came up with the following points of interest:

  • He worked at Bayern and Barca alongside Louis van Gaal
  • He’s managed youth teams in Holland
  • His name opens many doors for horrific newspaper headlines
  • He’ll replace Liam Brady at the end of the season Continue reading →

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by | January 12, 2014 · 9:00 am

Griezmann bid made, Podolksi crucial and other bits of stuff.

“Just be patient. The proper football isn’t far away now”

Morning, folks. I’m flabbergastingly tired today. I spend the wee hours of Friday night in the company of a delightful and enchanting female, and followed that with a day of editorial tinkering and writing on Saturday. This morning I am up early to write before I head off to the tedium of my gainful employment.

Before I get down to the nitty-gritty of dissecting today’s news, I thought now would be the opportune moment for further shameless whoring of The Goonersphere Podcast. Filled to capacity with prurient remarks and profane outbursts, this week’s show can also boast a fully-blown rap battle between Daniel and I. For that reason alone, I suggest you have a listen.

Click here to hear the Goonersphere Podcast.

So…News.

With so much clamouring for a new signing, reports suggest that Arsenal have made an attempt to sign one. Continue reading →

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by | January 9, 2014 · 9:00 am

Abou Diaby: the less-than-indestrucible man and Guess the Stadium!

A sight we may never see again.

Morning, folks.

Through absolutely no fault of his own, Abou Diaby hasn’t featured for Arsenal this season. I  know some like to brand him a “sponger”, or use him as an example of how cash could be better assigned. Me, I just feel sorry for the guy. He has all the talent you could wish for; tall, athletic, two-footed, technically sound, vision and speed. Often I ponder how good he could have been had he not encountered this cretin on that fateful day in Sunderland.

Yet, things have gone from bad to worse for him with injuries. Since that day, the ailments have mounted up and he’s never been able to sustain fitness for long enough to cement a place in the starting line-up. The reason I bring this topic up is due to a wealth of rumours on Twitter yesterday stating Abou is set to be ruled out for the rest of this season. Continue reading →

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by | January 7, 2014 · 9:00 am

Replacements for Theo and adding insult to injury.

From afar, people gathered to watch the Internet explode.

Morning, all.

Remember what I was saying yesterday about an unexpected and huge news story appearing out of the blue to give us something to talk about until Monday’s game at Villa? It happened. I wish I hadn’t said anything.

By now, all of you will be fully aware that we’ve lost Theo Walcott for 6 months through a large piece of misfortune. At times like these, there are many choices of word or phrases that are apt. For example, a Gooner reading the news for the first time might exclaim, “dash unfortunate all this business” or perhaps, “Shame, poor Theo“. After a few moments careful consideration, I came to the conclusion that only two very simple words serve to perfectly summarise the collective feeling amongst supporters of Arsenal:

“F**king hell….”

Bloody typical, isn’t it. Continue reading →

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