Blog Archives
Fantastic Robin Van Persie Seals Victory : The Player Ratings
Bottom of the table is where we would be this season without Robin Van Persie, a captain’s performance and man of the match game saw him seal all three points after putting us in the lead with just 28seconds on the clock before Seb Larsson equalised with a well taken freekick. But anything the former gooner can do, the current idol can match if not better. Below are the player ratings.
Szczesny– 7
Second best player on the pitch today, knew nothing and could do nothing to stop the goal. But was alert and strong enough to be in the right position to prevent us from falling further behind.
Jenkinson 6.5
Making his home debut, the young man put in a good shift and wasn’t all that troubled. Needs to improve his offensive output.
Mertesacker 6.5
For someone so slow, he ventures forward too much for my liking. Did not have much to do as Sunderland had no striker on the pitch.
Koscielny – 6.5
Like his partner had little or nothing to do, covered well whenever Gibbs went missing.
Gibbs – 5
Playing a full 90minutes or back to back games is fast becoming a taboo for the young Englishman. Withdrawn at half time after pulling up injured.
Arteta – 5
Another poor game from the spaniard. For someone so experienced in the EPL he sure doesn’t play like one. Needs to up his game. And quick
Song – 5
Just maybe his best position is at CB, wasn’t impressive at all today. Coquelin should have started.
Rosicky – 6
The only one of the midfield trio to play well. He needs to be more authoritative with his play and shoot more often.
Walcott – minus 10
Oh my was he poor today. I’m running out of excuses to give for his on-and-off performances. Surely Oxlade can do better than this as he’s on form. God knows why he wasn’t even in the squad.
Gervinho – 6.5
High rating because of the assist. He can do better but doesn’t show it. He went for power over placement when faced with the goal alone. Needs to improve as well.
Van Persie – 100
God bless RVP. Captain Marvelous. They say no such thing as a one man army but he defeated that today with a wonderful performance. He deserves better than he’s getting.
Arsene Wenger – Idiot Of The Match
Poor selection before and during the game, poor tactics since 06/07. Walcott should have been withdrawn yet he lasted 90 minutes. Park continues to decorate the bench. He continues to baffle me.
SUBSTITUTES
Arshavin – 5
Ran at the defence with real purpose when he came on. Should have grabbed a goal.
Santos – 5
Decent cameo from the brazilian.
Stan Kroenke, break the bank and do whatever you must to keep RVP at the club, I hope you watched today’s game. God bless RVP and Arsenal.
Escobar
Follow us on twitter @goonermemoirs
Arsenal vs Shrewsbury : Carling Cup Preview, AOC & Miyaichi Set For Debuts
If there were any perfect game for the club to use as a springboard to better performances, this is it right here. Nothing less than a 3-0 scoreline or 3 goals difference is expected. This is not a league game so hopefully the league form is not carried into the game.
Not the best of mornings for me, it rained all night and it still is meaning I’m stuck at home till it stops and then to make it worse, my favorite rapper’s(J.Cole) album leaked a week before its original date(damn! Cole World) but I trust Arsenal to make that all right against the boys from league two.
Team News
AW confirmed yesterday that there’s going to be first starts for summer signings AOC, Ryo Miyaichi and Park Chu Yung, but its not going to be a weak squad as the likes of Koscielny, Mertesacker , Chamakh, Gibbs are in it.
If anything, I’m excited to finally watch AOC play, he’s our biggest signing this summer in terms of fees and he’s been in electric form for the England U21’s bagging 6 assists in 2 games, fancy he could grab a couple again tonight.
Shrewsbury should be a walkover but don’t expect them to come to the Emirates and fold, as they are a good footballing side who move the ball well and make use of their fast & exciting wingers. Also, striker Marvin Morgan has already scored 7 league goals this season so expecting him to be looking for more.
Possible Line Up : Fabianski-Gibbs-Djourou-Miquel-Jenkinson-Coquelin-Frimpong-Benayoun-AOC-Park-Ryo-
Let us no what you think the scoreline would be. See you in the comments.
Escobar
Follow us on twitter @goonermemoirs
TEAM NEWS : Arteta & Mertesacker To Start Tomorrow As Gibbs Returns
Le Boss gave an interview to Arsenal.com this morning and revealed team news ahead of Swansea’s visit to the Emirates and we can say most if not all are good news.
Vermaelen & Wilshere
He said Vermaelen’s surgery was a success and that he should be back within a month. The injury this time is on his left ankle and has nothing to do with his achilles tendon.
Wilshere on the other hand is expected to be out for much longer as he’ll be in a cast in about a month and on the pitch in two. Aren’t you glad we got Mertesacker & Arteta now? I am
New Signings
Of all the new signings that were brought in during the last few days of the summer window, only the duo of Arteta & Mertesacker are in line to start and make their club debuts and what better place to make that than at the Emirates. Arteta would fit in nicely I’m sure and so too the giant German (ignore all press report that blamed him for Germany conceding two goals against poland, the same german team conceded two goals against Austria in his absence)
Returning Players & Suspension
There’s further good news as perennial absentee Gibbs is back in the squad and is fit to start meaning a place on the bench for Andre Santos. Le Boss said the brazilian is not match fit as the last game he played was at the Copa America. No problem, he’ll play soon enough.
Theo Walcott has given us extra boost as the slight injury that kept him out of the England-Wales game is not serious and should start.
Tomas Rosickyis carrying a knock and would be assessed before tomorrow and Korean captain Park Chu Young should make the bench but don’t count on seeing him start.
Emmanuel Frimpong, fresh off deciding to play for Ghana over England is back after completing his one match ban and goes straight into the starting XI but there’s no place yet for Gervinho & Song who serve the last games of their suspension.
There you have it, almost everyone is back bar TV5 & JW who are long term absentees. Its time to get our season back on track and what better way to do that than against Swansea. Surely we can beat them and I mean no disrespect to the opposition. Punkenstein would bring you the match preview early tomorrow, don’t miss it. Cheers
Escobar
Follow us on twitter @goonermemoirs
Dull Arsenal Fail To Fire As Gervinho Sees Red On Debut + Ratings
If the game yesterday is a sign of things to come then we can forget the top four this season. No Fabregas, No Nasri & no Wilshere and we lacked cutting edge, sharpness & decisiveness. The game was there for the taking but we didn’t seem interested in taking it.
As expected, Gervinho was handed a debut and Ramsey came in for Wilshere & Rosicky for Fabregas, same formation from last season which is something we should look at changing for this season. It was a dull affair from the start with us dominating possession as is the norm with us but nothing to take home in the final third, Gervinho showed promise with his touch, pace & control but opted to pass the ball everytime instead of shooting which was rather irritating as the game wore on
We were rarely troubled at the back and the midfield trio of Rosick-Ramsey-Song weren’t helping the attack with their lethargic performance. Song was first to go into the book for a stupid challenge and Rosicky quickly followed for a similar one. The end of the first half would have seen us score but for Van Persie’s poor touch from a delightful lob from Andrey Arshavin. We had only one shot on target in the whole 45.
2nd half more of the same, possession with no result, even Wilshere had to tweet for Arsene to throw Theo on which did not happen until the 60 something minute and his first involvement brought a save out of the goalkeeper. One would be forgiven for thinking Arsenal were Stoke in disguise as we had more fouls than chances created.
An attack on the left saw Gervinho weave his way into the box and he went down under the slightest of touches from Tiote, play on said the referee but Barton wasn’t impressed and the c*nt decided to award more punishment as he dragged up Gervinho like a thief and rough housed him, a melee ensued and in the process Gerv hit Barton who went down like he had been shot.
The referee did not see it and I don’t know how the linesman missed it but they all saw what Gerv did, he was sent off & Barton was given a yellow. Bad Officiating 1 : 0 Arsenal . The game played out as expected with us dropping points and losing a player again for the 2nd consecutive opening day.
One has to hope & pray Arsene’s eyes were peeled to the awful showing yesterday and makes him speed up the transfer dealings. Spend some f*cking money and maybe, just maybe we can do well this season. Rosicky is useless and can’t do well for us anymore, Ramsey is not a holding midfielder, and Van Persie needs a partner seeing as he kept dropping to the midfield. SPEND SOME F*CKING MONEY ARSENAL.
PLAYER RATINGS
Szczesny– 6
Was largely uninvolved as the Newcastle attack were asleep for most of the game
Sagna 7
Gave a good account of himself, held his own and did good going forward and staying back
Vermaelen 7
Good to have him back, won so many last ditch challenges & commanded his presence
Koscielny – 7
Made some crucial interceptions in the 2nd half and his understanding with TV5 was there to see
Gibbs – 6
A better team and his lack of positional discipline would have been dealt with severely, otherwise a decent showing
Ramsey – 6.5
Playing in an unfamiliar role of holding midfield and you could see his discomfort, played ok but could have done better
Song – 6.5
Needs to learn discipline, he was rash, poor in his tackles and could of seen Red for his poor stamp on Barton
Rosicky – 5
Useless, for a playmaker he spent more time passing to the side like Denilson and he inspired nothing and slowed down counter attacks.
Gervinho – 7
Bright and bubbly, seemed nervous at times, passed when he should of shot, his debut was marked by a red card, hopefully he’s learnt his lesson.
Arshavin – 5
Barring one excellent lobbed pass to RVP he was poor. Very poor
Van Persie – 6
Spent more time coming back to help the midfield, that’s how poor the service to him was. OK game.
SUBSTITUTES
Walcott – 6
Full of energy when he came on and nearly scored with his first chance.
Udinese are next up for us, then Liverpool, Udinese & United, we need those replacements as early as possible and not some stupid kids. From wherever you’re reading, try not to get your hopes high, or too low at that.
Escobar
Follow us on twitter @goonermemoirs
Wenger Exclusive : Gervinho Has Signed, Nasri & Fabregas To Stay, Gibbs,Traore or Vermaelen For LB Role
Fresh from the 13hour flight to Malaysia, Arsene Wenger alongside Van Persie and Bacary Sagna addressed the media in a press conference and as expected, the topics were Gervinho, Nasri & Fabregas, and the Left back position.
Thanks to @1nil2thearsenal & @aeroblog we were able to gather news on what he said.
On Gervinho, he had this to say
- Gervinho has signed for Arsenal and will start training today at Colney, he hasn’t had any preseason training at all so he won’t be joining us for the Asia Tour
FINALLY
On Nasri & Fabregas, he said
- As for Nasri, he’s not going anywhere this year and we don’t know if he will sign an extension. He went further by saying Fabregas isn’t going anywhere and wants him to remain with the team.
@1nil2thearsenal thinks what Wenger plans to do is try and convince Nasri a few months into the season, and if that doesn’t work, will look to sell in January. That might be risky as the ball will be solely in Nasri’s court.
And finally, on the left back position, Wenger mentioned Gibbs, Traore and Vermaelen, I.e any one of those 3 players will be assessed in that position and whoever excels would make the position his.
Well there you have it. Do have a swell day. See you in the comments.
Gervinho in an Arsenal Shirt|Nasri Isn’t Leaving|Gibbs is our new LB.
Gervinho has signed for Arsenal and he will sport the number 9 jersey for next season. He is a great signing and will score lots of goals. *insert deep sigh*
I wish I could happily and confidently tell you that the deal has happened. I wish I could give you more than just a link to the above image which is probably fake.
Unfortunately, his signing has not been confirmed even after supposedly having a medical on Thursday.
French sources claim he still has some issues back in France and his signing should be announced in a few days. One begins to wonder how long “a few days” will be. I cannot wait to see him in an Arsenal shirt though and in a legitimate picture for that matter.
Meanwhile, Sky sports understands that we have agreed a fee of £22.2m with Man City for the sale of Nasri. As “credible” as this source is, it will take more than just their “understanding” to make me believe this story.
Add this to the fact that just yesterday afternoon Wenger was quoted as saying he will do everything to keep both Cesc and Nasri. There were even reports that Nasri has been offered £110k per week to keep him at the Emirates.
How Wenger made a complete U-turn in a matter of hours is what beats me. And taking into consideration how Sky sports have been “understanding” that Cesc’s deal to Barcelona is almost done, I’m not surprised this story has come up.
The team will be travelling to Asia soon and it will be interesting to see who is on the plane and who is not. Wenger expects Nasri to be part of the touring party. Said he,
“…Yes, Samir is going on tour. He is not injured, so he is going on tour. We will take the strongest possible squad.”
Japanese teenage sensation Ryo Miyachi is also expected to feature at some point. And as we told you in our last post, Cesc will not be travelling. No story in here, Wenger says he’s injured and I believe him. Fabianski, Eboue and Bendtner may also miss the tour.
Wenger also suggested that Kieran Gibbs will be promoted instead of splashing out cash on a new left back. Opinion on whom our new left back should be is split, and this decision will surely anger some Arsenal fans.
I don’t think Gibbs is a bad player but I doubt he is ready to play in the EPL week in week out. Having said that, a run of games may see him improve drastically.
I expected us to bring in an experienced left back, Wenger decided to promote Gibbs. This trick worked with Clichy when Ashley Cole left; it remains to be seen if Gibbs can prove us wrong with CONSISTENTLY good performances.
Following the failures of last season, we all expected a summer of additions to an almost perfect squad; not having to replace our top players. Now most fans are wondering, will Cesc leave? Should he even be allowed to leave? What happens to Nasri in the event of Cesc’s departure?
Does Wenger still know? Why are we taking relatively long to sign players? Is our interest in Mata strong enough to bring him to London? What formation are we even going to play next season?
These are some of the questions I have asked myself these past weeks. Honestly, I am eager to see how we begin next season with a stronger team than the previous campaign. Or will we?
Keep the faith wherever you are reading this from!
Do let us know what you think in the comments.
Clichy has my blessings|Arsenal get bullied again|Cesc and Nasri to stay?
Granted, I may have popped some dopamine-enhancing pills this morning but I am in my most positive of moods. There have been a lot of paper talk over the past few days, with many of them being nothing but mere lazy journalism. We are actually tired of these stories and that may be responsible for the lack of posts these past few days. Not withstanding, our apologies!
So, first things first, news just in suggests that Gael Clichy just arrived at a private hospital in Manchester for a medical, with a view to completing his move to the Eastlands. This is bad news for us Arsenal fans, as we have just lost the last member of our invincibles team, a hard worker and an arsenal lover.
It may sound absurd praising him on the day he signs for another club; however, we cannot deny that Gael has been a loyal servant to the Arsenal cause. He gave his 100% whenever he wore the Red and White of the club and deserves every form of gratitude for his service.
Clichy came in for Ashley Cole and settled in perfectly, giving us great performance after great performance but last season, his form waned. The first person to notice this was Clichy himself. His performance dropped and he started making silly errors. He may have realised that his time at the top may not be as long as he expected. Having said that, I really do not see anything wrong in him seeking a big payday before he loses his form completely. I’m talking from a professional footballer’s perspective here, not as an Arsenal fan.
Everyone has their limits, he has been with us for over 8 years and he’s probably fed up. So I’ll put him in the category of ex-players who should get a warm reception when they return to the Emirates: Henry, Pires, Kolo Toure, Ljunberg… And now that Clichy is leaving, replacing him won’t be too difficult. We can bring in another left back, promote Gibbs, or shift Vermaelen to left back. The last option is a discussion for another day though.
To other news, Cesc should return to London today to begin preseason, and while his heart is still set on a move to Barcelona, returning to London may just be to our advantage. I believe that Wenger can meet Cesc one on one and convince him to stay at the club; tell him that Barcelona do not want him that much if they value Sanchez and Neymar more than him, tell him Arsenal will always love him more. It’s not going to be easy but if anyone can, Arsene can. Barcelona have no money, and I do not see how Cesc will leave if they cannot provide the funds.
Nasri will also meet with Wenger today to sort out his contract. For all his comments in the papers, it is imperative for me to let you know that everything Samir said, we already know. He wants to win trophies, who doesn’t? But he also added that he wants to do so playing a certain kind of football that we all know only one team in England is capable of.
He won’t play rugby, and he wants to win trophies, my feeling is he wants to push Wenger to sign top players this summer so we can compete better next season. Isn’t that what we all want?
For all our noise about Ricky Alvarez arriving, Inter Milan may just have beaten us to the signing of the Argentine ace. according to Maurizio Zamparini. The Palermo president was the man who revealed last week that Arsenal were set to win the race for the Velez Sarsfield midfielder. Palermo had also been bidding for Alvarez, which gave Zamparini his insight and now he claims that he knows Inter’s late bid for the player looks set to be successful.
It is annoying how we get bullied by other clubs; first it was Jones, now it’s Alvarez. However, we are not sure how much Wenger wanted him at Arsenal since there was no statement from anyone related to the club, and I have not really seen the lad play, so I cannot judge how much of a loss this is.
That’s it gooners, it’s past July 1st and still no action. Nothing on Samba and Cahill, Gervinho has still not been announced. I think Wenger knows what he’s doing, but for how long can he wait on other clubs? This summer was supposed to be about strengthening, but instead it’s another year of replacing.
It’s just amazing how we have these problems with money when 95% of the club is owned by two of the world’s richest men!
Wherever you are reading this from, keep believing. There’s still over a month of the transfer window left.
Remember follow us on twitter @goonermemoirs for Arsenal news as they break.
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Cheers.
See you in the commments!
Man Utd Vs Arsenal : FA Cup Quarter Final Preview
You don’t know how glad I am that there’s finally a game to play, and its one between the two most successful sides in the FA Cup history. The fallout and noise and accusations and charges that flew around after the Barca game was getting too much. Its this simple, Barca taught us a footballing lesson. Why? We sold out our footballing values. And it was compounded by RVP’s sending off at a vital point. We all know how the rest of the story goes. Its saturday and we have our season to fight for. So too does United.
Unlike previous encounters in the cup, this one is probably the most important to us both since the 2005 final(I’d give anything for the same outcome today with us progressing) seeing as failure for us to progress leaves us with just the league to focus on while United would want to avoid what everyone is calling a ‘mini meltdown’. None of these teams likes to play weakened teams against each other but United would be keeping an eye on the UCL game on tuesday and I say they have the advantage on us seeing as they haven’t kicked ball in seven days, but neither have we kicked ball since Saturday(seeing as all we did at the Camp Nou was chase the ball for 90 mins)
To team news, like we’re used to, important players always pick up knocks around this time and they haven’t failed to deliver, Fabregas(hamstring), Song(Knee), Walcott(ankle), Chezzer(finger), Vermaelen(some mysterious ancient injury that has no cure) are all missing for us meaning we should still have a solid first 11 but a mediocre bench. Good times. We can take comfort in the fact that manure have their share of absentees, Nani, Park(our tormentor), Ferdinand, Valencia won’t feature.
I’m hoping SAF does us favour by starting say, Obertan, Brown, Gibson, then we can re-enact the murder at Anfield last week. Simply put, we have to win this game, by any means, yes its at OT, so what? Its not Nou Camp and they’re not Barca but neither were Sunderland when we drew blanks. We can afford that, drawing blanks that is, but I’d rather play this tie once and avoid a replay. We need to win something this season and even though most people want the league I want the league and cup double and a win today keeps that dream alive
Possible Formation
- Almunia
Sagna Kozzer Djourou Gibbs
- Wilshere Diaby
Bendtner Nasri Arshavin
- RVP
Well let’s hope for a great spectacle today shorn of moronic refereeing decisions and horrific injuries. Hopefully get an early goal and see Rambo come on for the last fifteen minutes to grab the winner.
Your thoughts?
Escobar
Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Escobar
Emi Michael
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