Blog Archives
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
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.