0-3

Until Chelsea scored their first goal against Arsenal yesterday, the match was even. 0-0 looked to be the half-time scoreline. Neither team had really threatened. Chelsea had a move that saw Sagna successfully launch a last ditch tackle on Anelka who was bearing down on goal. Meanwhile, Arsenal had a Nasri shot well saved by Cech.

Arsenal, were more pressing (as home teams should be) and had the majority of the ball. Chelsea looked solid and organized in defense with midfield players coming back to defend at all times.

The match looked like a stalemate until the 41st minute when John Terry received the ball in the Arsenal half. Denilson tracked him, stood off and allowed Terry to make defense splitting pass to Ashley Cole who was unmarked. Terry's pass went between Arshavin and Sagna. Both players were marking thin air. Perhaps Sagna was trying to play offside. But he never raised his arm to indicate that he was.

Cole played a low ball in between Gallas and Vermaelen, for Drogba to side volley home. It was a great finish and a very well worked goal by Chelsea. However, Drogba was free. No-one was tight on him. Gallas and Vermaelen were marking thin air. From a defensive point of view, the goal was embarrassing.

Denilson is the first defender. His job is to pressure. He stood off John Terry. Arshavin was in no man's land. He's not covering Denilson or marking Cole. Sagna is marking nothing. If Denilson tackles Terry, Chelsea are fucked. Instead, Arsenal get fucked.

1-0 to Chelsea - the team with best defensive record in the Premiership. Straight away this fact enters my mind and with it a realization that Arsenal have an uphill task ahead. No way back. Not against the defense Chelsea has. Then two minutes later Chelsea get their second goal.

Vermaelen own goal.

What a joke this goal was. Ashley Cole swings in another low cross. Gallas misses it. The ball then hits the knee of an unsighted Vermaelen and spins into the top right hand corner. Almunia is nowhere. This time Nasri allows Cole to cross after being caught ball watching when Anelka was being harassed by Song.

Game over.

The difference between Arsenal and Chelsea is:

Anelka/Drogba verses Eduardo or Vela.

To compete against defenders like John Terry you need strength, muscle and height. Carlton Cole or Bendtner are the types of players you need not an off form Eduardo. Instead Arsenal's attack looked small, young and fragile.

Defense.

Every Arsenal cross was easily eaten up by Chelsea. I lost count of the number of hopeless, floated balls into Chelsea's penalty area for our tiny forwards. Why didn't we send in some low crosses, just like Ashley Cole did? Arsenal's defense is obviously using zonal marking but not with great success. Nasri and Arshavin know how to attack but defending is obviously their weak spot.

Question remarks remain over certain Arsenal players.

Almunia is not commanding of his area. The second Chelsea goal showed this. Where was the communication between him and Vermaelen? When he comes to catch a cross he leaves my heart in my mouth. Lehmann didn't!

Eduardo is off form. Play him against Manchester City on Wednesday night and see if he can change his fortune because right now he's below the standards that Arsenal fans are used to from him.

Walcott. You wank over playing for England so much that you fuck your body up in the Euro Under 21 Championships in late June. You then break down in pre-season, come back two months later and then get injured again. What the fuck have you done for Arsenal? I'll tell you what - two runs against Liverpool at Anfield. The first was two years ago in the Champions League. You ran the whole length of the field and set up that lanky cunt Adebayor. We then lost 4-2. Then last season you did the same thing and set up Arshavin, yet we only drew 4-4. That is piss fucking poor. When Fergie realized that David Belion was all pace and nothing else, he got rid of him. What do you get? A new five year contract. Walcunt needs to step up to the plate.

On a plus note, I thought Traore played well. None of the goals came from his side.

Keep it Arsenal

Post Match View - Chelsea Football Club

Didier Drogba is like a heavyweight boxer who doesn’t jab well. He’s a boxer who doesn’t have good feet. He’s a boxer who doesn’t box because he doesn’t feel it’s the best way to win so he never bothered to perfect the skills of a boxer. Instead, he learned to punch and to land his punches when and where he needs to.

He doesn’t win too many split decisions. He usually wins pretty convincingly. Most of his victories are by knockout. He is not a gifted boxer but he is efficient and powerful.

In matches against Arsenal, he has knocked us out more times than not. I said a few years ago (before his run of excellence at Chelsea) that he was just a marginal player – how wrong I was. The man knows how to score goals.

We have players who know how to score goals too. We have match winners. Among the healthy, we have Cesc, Eduardo, Nasri, and Arshavin.

Until goalless defeats to Sunderland and Chelsea, we’d been on a record setting pace with goals coming from almost every player on the pitch. Seeing Drogba score reminded me that the difference in big games is not the quality of the play but how players express themselves and when they do. Our match winners did not influence the game sufficiently.

In big games, big players have to make sure that they are effective enough to get the result. Cesc and Arshavin did not express themselves. They are our most influential players now that Robin is out. In matches like today’s Arshavin especially needs to make his genius count.

There is no doubt in my mind that he is a class above everyone on the pitch but he hasn’t shown it the way we need him to. Our season hinges now on his genius. He must take control of this team.

You might be thinking that it’s Cesc team this current version. You are right but Arshavin can be the real mastermind. He has to be. Rooney deferred to Ronaldo and United won three titles. Cesc must defer to Arshavin but Wenger has got to buy into it and Arshavin has to embrace it.

In Robin’s absence, it is the best way to get the most out of the team. Chelsea did not outplay us. They outscored us without dominating the match. Arshavin has got to look at that and feel he needed to make a difference. It’s not that he can’t break through Chelsea’s tight defence.

We need him to be at his magical best now more than ever being 11 points behind the leaders.

The Moment Has Come

There has been so much written word circulating about our clash with Chelsea. That tends to happen when two members of the "Big Four" play each other, but with the majority of the other "Big Four" being duds in terms of football excitement, the media really enjoys covering any match we're a part of. That's not me being partial. I'm convinced Arsenal v. any of the other three clubs are infinitely more intriguing game, on footballing terms, than any other match up.

So with that, the multitude of information to absorb, including the late breaking news that Robin van Persie is most likely finished for the season, I'm just going to free form the preview with a lot of points instead of a coherent whole.

- Wenger has stated that the "moment has come." He has used this type of language before, during the Champions League semi against Manchester United last year. We know how that one turned out, as a Kieran Gibbs slip negated any chance of us progressing to the final. He is saying it, because he thoroughly believes it. We're a point in the season where we've been devastated by injuries, suffered lapses of concentration, and in the process been written off. Believe me, after today's news, nobody will be pushing us for the title. That is when you either take a stand or you shrivel up and die. Make no mistake, this is at the least a "must not lose game." We must, as a team, as fans, refuse to lose.

- Fixtures between relegation candidate teams are usually referred to as "six pointers." All matches for Premier League title contenders are six pointers, especially so when facing a direct rival.

- We defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last year with a shock Robin van Persie double, one of the goals being blatantly offside. What we've seem to forgotten is that Chelsea humiliated us at the Emirates in the return fixture. That match saw us concede the most goals we've ever conceded at the Emirates. I have not forgotten. Just like I have not forgotten that Nicolas Anelka refused to celebrate his goal against us.

- Which brings us to Nicolas Anelka, one of the few Chelsea players who I do not hate with a passion. The other player I feel that way is Mikael Essien. Anelka has aged gracefully in all facets. He's truly a class player, and he will be a deadly link up outlet in the game. The reason why the diamond formation has worked at all is not because Frank Lampard is a classic no. 10, it's because Anelka makes the attack click.

- Mikael Essien is the only player I really covet from any other team in the Premier League.

- Didier Drogba has played 10 matches against us. They have won 8 times and drawn 2 times. Some of this is down to Philippe Senderos. Some of it is down to the fact that he's a big time player, and he fancies playing against us. Tomorrow will be the first time he plays Thomas Vermaelen. We will see if Vermaelen is truly a world class defender or a class below that.

- It will also be the first time that Chelsea face us with Alex Song as our lockdown midfield enforcer.

- John Terry has been walking around with his chest out, feeling as though the team is back to their Mourinho days. Well, the first year Chelsea won under Mourinho, they conceded only 15 goals. They're halfway there already. They lost to Wigan Athletic, and no offense to Wigan, close call aside, Mourinho's sides did not lose to sides like that. But that's fine by my book, I like arrogance as much as the next professional. They've done nothing to merit their status as front runners, others have merely faltered.

- On good and bad luck, Chelsea were outplayed, fairly comprehensively in my eyes, by Manchester United and still got the three points. We outplayed Manchester United and they snuck out with three points at Old Trafford. That's football. Name another sport where you can dominate a match and lose. There is none.

- A couple of weeks ago, I spoke about how Chelsea were having injury problems. Well, Drogba and Lampard recovered and we lost van Persie and Gibbs. I guess it's my fault for tempting the gods.

- Carlo Ancelotti was not a good league manager in Italy. He won a title, but his main accomplishments are in Europe. From what I can tell, his European touch has rubbed off on their side. We've yet to see if he's carried over his league form, but methinks the funeral parlor man will have real tests in the upcoming months, starting with the next two weeks.

- The African Nations Cup will not affect Chelsea while their players are away. Look at their cream puff schedule. They can easily handle those teams without the African quartet. However, it will affect their side when they return. Players have a difficult time coming back from that tournament, just look at Kolo and his malaria. But likewise, we'll be losing Song and Eboue when we actually need them and they'll return fatigued. Clearly, it's worse for us than it is for them.

- Chelsea's transfer ban will do nothing to the club, as Wenger categorically stated. All it did was bring attention to a young player who may or may not have been worth the fuss. With rumors that Chelsea will be signing Kun Aguero for 50 million pounds, just what was the point of the ban? Aguero, on his day, is a super player. Not sure that he'll make it here, but at least his progeny will have super genes.

- William Gallas is a warrior. And unless his eye is completely shut off, he will play tomorrow. He relishes the big games, and he will want to play against Chelsea. Kolo's pot shot at him was both disrespectful and unnecessary. How many ex-Arsenal players have to go down that route? And where are all the pundits who were writing that Arsenal was wrong to sell him now? Eating that nasty bird. That's where.

- Armand Traore struck me as being a useful player last week against Sunderland. Despite words to the contrary, I felt as though he could be a decent understudy to Clichy. That being said, Gibbs seemingly helped neutralize the left side of Standard Liege, so his loss will also be felt. But let's not forget that Armand Traore is a devoted professional and was once and still is a highly rated prospect.

- The diamond formation for Chelsea is far less effective when Frank Lampard holds the keys. In that respect, maybe it is better that he has recovered. Deco and Joe Cole can operate on the tip of the diamond, but Lampard is struggling with it. That does not mean we can discount his work rate and his affinity for shooting missiles from middle range.

- Then again, clashes between the Big Four rarely come down to offensive brilliance. They come down to the small moments. I find it somewhat laughable that Manuel Almunia is talking about ensuring that "we" don't make any small mistakes. His rash throw 18 months ago during a match against Chelsea started an attack which led directly to a goal. If he doesn't make a mistake against United, we could have walked to victory. He has been okay since he's come back from his chest infection/family bereavement. I suggest that he is the one who should not make a mistake.

- As much as I'd like not to see Cesc associate himself with Gerrard, I can't help but think his statements about our club are 100% genuine. Let's never think about his future while his present is so thoroughly with Arsenal.

- Theo, I'm looking at you.

- A few months ago, we were deprived of having Gallas (through injury) and Arshavin (through ineligibility) in the Champions League semi. Now, it looks as though Robin will miss out. When will the stars align for us? These injuries are taking a toll.

- With Robin van Persie's devastating injury news, an alternate formation may need to be developed over the next few weeks. I can't say something like that for sure, but now, more than ever, somebody needs to step into that breach. That player has to be Andrey Arshavin. There have been numerous reports about his depression following Russia's exit from the World Cup. I sympathize. But this is the moment where he proves that he can be one of the all time greats. I believe he has that potential, and he must prove me right for our season to stay on track.

- I love this club, and I will support it until the day I die.

Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Alex Song or Cesc Fabregas?

Everyone knows the qualities of Cesc Fabregas. Every week the man is linked with a move back to Barcelona. Fair play to the man, that he always states he is not interested in a move back to Spain. He says that he is happy at Arsenal and wants to stay.

Alex Song is never asked about his future, perhaps because he wasn't signed from a fashionable club.

I first saw Song play in the Carling Cup quarter-final away to Doncaster Rovers back in December 2005. Arsenal and were poor that day but won an exciting game on penalties after Gilberto Silva had scored a last minute equalizer in extra time to make the game 2-2. Arsenal eventually won the tie on penalties to book a place in the semi-final against Wigan Athletic. Eboue's run and cross for Arsenal's equalizer was forgotten by many Gooners. Instead the Negatives moaned about the performance of Alex Song, who was making one of his very few starts for Arsenal aged just 17. The two Doncaster goals were the fault of Senderos, but not many Gooners mentioned this at the time.

Cesc made his Carling Cup debut at 16 and his Premiership debut at 17. Song was not far behind the Spaniard making his Arsenal debut at 17 but had already played 34 times for Bastia as a 16 year old.

If Wenger gives a 17 year old first team appearances, then that player has to be something special. Henry at Monaco, Anelka, Fabregas, Walcott, Ramsey and Song.

The difference between the two is where Wenger signed them from and their roles in the team. Cesc was poached from Barcelona. Song was bought from Sporting Club de Bastia for one million pounds after an initial loan deal. Bastia play in the island of Corsica in the French Ligue Two. In 1978, they reached the UEFA Cup final losing to PSV Eindhoven. In 1981, they won the French Cup and in 1997 they won the much maligned Intertoto Cup.

Bastia are not a big club in France. Their English equivalent is Coventry City.

Barcelona are the current Champions League holders. They have won La Liga 19 times and 25 Spanish cups.

Alex Song plays for Cameroon. Cesc Fabregas plays for Spain.

One player has a fashionable football CV. The other, not so much.

Some people might think that Song's real job is to dominate the midfield, to break opponents hearts and minds, by denying them possession of the ball and blocking the route forward. However, there is more to Song's game than just protect and support. The man has dribbling skills and is very dangerous going forward. Darren Fletcher he's not. Lotar Mateus is a better description.

In November 2006, Song was booed by Arsenal fans after a 2-1 loss to Fulham - the Cottagers first win against Arsenal for 40 years. At half-time Song was replaced by Cesc Fabregas and was eventually loaned out to Charlton Athletic later that season, making 12 appearances.

Many Arsenal fans at the start of this season said that Song was not good enough for Arsenal. Some even suggested that Wenger should buy a Philip Neville type of 'holding' midfielder.

These fans should be sent to prison.

Unfortunately, Song is being sent to play for Cameroon in the African Cup of Nations in January. If Cesc was going, I would be concerned. But in the case of Song, I am bothered.

The man is irreplaceable.

Keep it Arsenal

Great View, Terrible View

The problem with sitting very close to the pitch at matches is that although you get a terrific view for taking pictures, you don't get to see the match as well as you could. I was close enough to shout "ALEX" and not only did he hear me but he looked up and waved.

Top boy that Song! A diplomat in the making.

The match has an entirely different meaning for me when I cannot watch from a proper angle to see what's going on. Sure, I saw the players from very close and sometimes heard them shouting but I couldn't see what happened when the Belgian no. 9 hit the bar. There was a wall of bodies in my way and then suddenly the ball smashes off the bar.

Liege were of a very poor standard to be honest. Please pardon the pun. It's fair to say though that had that ball gone in, we might have struggled a bit.

However, I did see the after effects of Gallas's head injury. He wobbled around (literally) for most of the First Half. I thought he was concussed. And in the Second Half when Eboue and then Song after him went close with what would have been very special goals, I saw the anguish on Eboue's face and the disappointment on Song's.

The best yet worst view was of Kieran Gibbs being hacked by a Standard player near the end of the match. The tackle took place as Gibbs made contact with the ball. It was similar to Robin's case for Holland. Gibbs attempted to play on but he was clearly unable to. This morning it has been confirmed that he will miss up to three months with a fractured foot.

You didn't expect us to go injury-free this season did you?

Nonetheless a good result has given us some breathing room. Players can be rested vs. Olympiakos in the CL next month . Others can get games when they normally wouldn't even make the bench.

As I said immediately after the Sunderland match, the next game is the most important. Chelsea is huge. HUGE!

I don't see it as season ending if we lose, but a draw is obviously the minimum result required. The players know this is one of the matches that the five-year plan hinges on. It is one of the games in which they need to step up and 'repay' Wenger for his faith.

Sharkshavin must raise his game Sunday. A performance a la Anfield last season would work. I'm going to shoot some more pictures now.

Peace!

It's the Shorts

The superstitious side of me wants to think that it's the white shorts that cost us three points on Saturday. I don't really know how the decision to wear white shorts came about, considering that we've worn blue shorts with our blue kits, but it struck me as odd about ten minutes into the match. I wondered what the point of it was. Is it because Sunderland wear dark shorts? It reminded me of that ghastly kit Liverpool wore when Robbie Keane scored a goal against us last year.

The logical side of me thinks that we never got out of first gear and it was a tremendously disappointing performance. Yes, Chelsea did what they were supposed to do. They also had Wolves at home, and they now have Gael Kukata claiming that the Premier League seems easier than the Reserves. We went to the Stadium of Light against a team ready to prove themselves, directly after the international break.

Other than the shot on goal by Rosicky, the one-two between Song and Eduardo, and the blatant penalty on Vela that was turned down, we didn't do very much. Ramsey for all his plaudits has yet to deliver a definitive Arsenal performance. For a creative player, I don't know how many assists or key chances he's created for Arsenal. Eduardo's movement was subpar and his finishing has been far from clinical lately, but he's finding his way back into things. You know it's bad when Alex Song was the primary playmaker during the second half, a product of Cana harassing Cesc the entire game.

We were sluggish though, and we never got out of first gear.

As my fellow colleague said, champions win games like this. With points dropped against West Ham and this result against Sunderland, our momentum has been stopped dead in the tracks.

That's why the game against Liege is of great importance.

We need to reassert our dominant self on weaker opposition. If we win tomorrow, we'll be guaranteed the top slot in the group and be able to field the reserves in the last Champions League group game.

But more importantly, it'll build some real momentum heading into the weekend. Chelsea awaits. We must deliver.

Why Clubs Need Great Office Staff

The following is from Roy Keane's autobiography. He explains his transfer from Nottingham Forest to Manchester United in the summer of 1993. It's interesting for two reasons:

1) Why a club needs excellent administrative staff to be successful;
2) The ruthlessness and cunnigness of Alex Ferguson:

I'd heard that Alan Shearer was on 500, 000 pounds a year (at Blackburn), so that's what I demanded. After some bargaining, I accepted Blackburn's offer of 400,000 pounds a year. A deal was agreed late on Friday afternoon.

Terms agreed, I was ready to sign the contract. But when Kenny Dalglish (Blackburn boss) phoned Ewood Park, the office staff had left for the weekend. "Don't worry," he said, "you can sign the forms on Monday." We shook hands.

I went home to Cork for the weekend. On Saturday news of my transfer to Blackburn made the newspapers. The fee set a new British transfer record. I hit the town on Saturday night to celebrate my move.

On Sunday, I woke up with a hangover. I was due back in Blackburn the following day to sign forms. After that I was looking forward to a holiday.

At lunch time the phone rang. It was Alex Ferguson. My family were Manchester United daft.
"Roy it's Alex Ferguson here. Have you signed any forms?"
"No, but I shook hands on the deal, and I'm due to sign the forms tomorrow."
"Why don't you have a chat with me before you do anything?"

Wow. Manchester United. The Premier League champions.

"Yes, but I have agreed the deal," I tell Ferguson.
"You've signed nothing. Come over for a chat."

From that moment I was never going to sign for any other club. In my heart of hearts I knew I could never refuse to sign for the world's most famous football club.

The next morning - after a hectic night on the town - I flew to Manchester. Alex Ferguson met me at the airport. We drove to his home close by. Brian Kidd was there. After a meal and some general chat, Ferguson suggested we have a game of snooker. He was a useful player.

I liked him straight away. For a man managing Manchester United, who'd just won the Premier League, he was unaffected, funny and reassuringly human. He was also clearly hungry for more trophies.

"Roy, Manchester United are going to dominate the domestic game with or without you. With you we can win in Europe," he asserted.

It was a persuasive argument. However, there were a few obstacles to overcome before a deal to join United could be done. Ferguson asked who was representing me. I told him the PFA. He suggested that we would not discuss terms right now. "Leave that to me," he urged. We agreed that I would tell Dalglish our deal was off. After that, I would have to sit tight while United dealt with Nottingham Forest. It wouldn't be easy, Ferguson pointed out, but, he assured me, he would secure what both of us wanted in the end.

I phoned Kenny Dalglish to tell him that I'd changed my mind about joining Blackburn Rovers. He went crazy.

"What the fuck do you mean?"
I told him I'd talked to Alex Ferguson.
"We shook hands on a deal. You can't back out now," he screamed.
"Look, I'm sorry, I really am," I told him, "but I've got my future to think about, I'm entitled to that."
"You're entitled to nothing except the commitment you made to me on Friday."
"I'm sorry, if you'd had the forms ready, I would have signed on Friday."
"Nobody does this to me, nobody does this to Kenny Dalglish. You're a wee bastard and you won't get away with this."

Here was Kenny Dalglish insisting that I honor a deal I hadn't signed. The same Kenny Dalglish who'd spent several months tapping me up behind Brian Clough's back. The more he swore at me the less my conscience bothered me.

The next call I received was from Frank Clark (the then new Nottingham Forest manager). I confirmed that after talking to Alex Ferguson I had changed my mind. Clark had also received a call from Ferguson. Unlike Blackburn, who going to pay 4 million, Manchester United would pay just over 3 million. That was unacceptable to Forest, Clark declared. He made it clear that there would be no sale to United unless they matched Blackburn's fee. I insisted that United was the club I wanted to join. Stalemate.

I was going on holiday to Cyprus and spoke to Alex Ferguson again. He assured me that the choice was mine. It was up to me which club I joined. If I kept my nerve, everything would work out in the end. Keeping my nerve might mean starting the following season as a Forest player. I resolved to do as Ferguson suggested. Go on holiday and don't worry.

The next day the phone rang at 6:30 am. It was Kenny Dalglish.
"You won't get away with this," he began. "Blackburn Rovers will sue you for every penny you've got." He and Alex Ferguson had never got on and this more than anything appeared to be bugging him. He called me names. He repeated that nobody "fucked with Kenny Dalglish and got away with it."

When I returned to Forest for pre-season training, I was forced to train with the reserves. It was made clear that I would be punished for the crime of rejecting Blackburn by being ostracized in every conceivable way. Ferguson told me to keep my composure. This was a game of poker between United and Forest. United's latest offer of 3.5 million fell 500,000 short of Blackburn's bid. If I kept my head, Forest were faced with a choice: 3.5 million or an asset worth nothing, training with the reserve team.

Two weeks into pre-season training, Forest blinked. Manchester United's bid of 3.75 million was accepted. Now I had to negotiate my own deal with United. Their offer of 250,000 pounds a year was 150,000 short of Blackburn's.

Eventually, with the help of property lawyer Michael Kennedy, United offered 350,000 a year, 50,000 less than Blackburn. I was happy to sign. A thousand pounds a week was a small price to pay to be a Manchester United player.

KEEP IT ARSENAL

Post Match View - Sunderland A.F.C.

It's going to sound like I haven't got much new to say but it's true; champions win games that they are supposed to win. Sunderland is not better than we are. No matter what the permutation of player combinations from the respective squads, we should beat Sunderland every time.

The English media like to hype up a new gate-crasher every chance they get. Sunderland is this year's choice. I'm not the least bit impressed by a team with Kieron Richardson playing in the hole behind Darren Bent, Steed Malbranque and Andy Reid running midfield, and some unkown 19 year old local in a holding role.

We did not make any kind of statement at any point in the game. We allowed an inferior team to stifle us and disrupt our flow. They waited until we got to midfield and then closed us down quickly. They counter-attacked, trying to nick a goal. We just kicked the ball about without any real drive. There was no urgency.

We had a few good moments - a few nicely worked combinations at the top of their box, dangerous crosses across their goal late - but we did little to show our superiority. Some say it is the post-internationals hangover. I'm inclined to agree with that but if we're going to win the league, we can't lose to Sunderland for any reason.

The lineup was a bit strange to be honest. I will never second guess Wenger's decisions because he sees the players in training, I don't. I just wonder why Arshavin sat for most of the match yet Gallas, who's been playing an enormous amount off high pressure fooball, played the entire game. Why didn't Arshavin start? He would have enabled Eduardo to be a bigger threat on an off the ball. Nasri is good around the box but rarely threatens from close in. That somewhat nullified the Eduardo as loan strike bit.

It's all water under the bridge now. We lost. Tuesday is very important.

A few notes:

At times, it was apparent why Ramsey is still not a regular starter. He lost the ball carelessly, allowing for counter-attacks on more than one occasion.

Armand Traore was better than I've ever seen him. He looked more composed and trustworthy. With a healthy Gibbs, Clichy could be expendable if he doesn't fix himself.

On 89, Song chased down Kieron Richardson where Sagna would normally be. Alex came from deep inside Sunderland territory to win back the ball. I was impressed by that so late in the game.

On the penalty that wasn't; get used to it. It's going ot be that way for a long, long time. I've seen penalties given for less. We shouldn't expect them at all any more unless it's an axe assault leaving a pool of Arsenal red in the penalty area.

We've made things very difficult for ourselves now with United winning against Everton and Chelsea of course having beaten Wolves. We've lost ground. DAMN!!!

I'm going to get f***** up now.

Later!

Tough Shit

A lot of how I feel about the whole Thierry Henry handball incident was summed up by Roy Keane's brilliant presser.

This has been a British media witch hunt. They waited for eight long years to wipe the Frenchman's arrogant smirk off his face. When the moment arrived, they did not fail in aiming their vitriol squarely at him. Ignoring the fact that nearly every professional involved has refused to call Henry a cheat, there have been pundits left and right spouting such words only to aggrandize their own profile.

You have Tony Cascarino, an actual cheat who flip-flopped country identification like TV channels, calling Henry all sorts of names. You have James Lawton, a man who can write eloquently about Arsenal at times, writing about Henry's legacy of cheating (mainly in the World Cup when he was fouled by Puyol). You have Eric Cantona saying that he would have punched Henry in the face had he sat down next to him after the match.

What good does all of this do? Why do we as a society decide to drag a man down to the gutter for something that can be explained as a purely instinctual action?

Yes, what Henry did was illegal and against the rules, but calling him a cheat implies something else. It means premeditation, and certainly that act was not premeditated. Robbie Keane was rightly called for three or four handballs in the game. So, let me get this straight, Robbie Keane is not a cheat because he was correctly judged for the handballs, while Henry is a cheat just because he wasn't caught?

British people bleat on and on about how Ireland were robbed. Well, as it stood, it would have headed to penalties. In my eyes, the best player on the pitch that night was Hugo Lloris. In a foreign country, Ireland would have relied on players like Paul McShane to take a crucial penalty kick (and that choker David Trezeguet was nowhere to be found for the French). That's far from slam dunk qualification. No, the Irish were robbed of the opportunity to play for penalties. They still had fifteen minutes to take matters into their own hands.

Henry will get a smidgeon of goodwill for suggesting a replay would be fair. But this won't be enough for diehard haters of Arsenal like Myles Palmer, a man whose reactions were so furious that he called Thierry Henry scum of the earth. Let me say this, footballers and athletes are hardly scum of the earth. They're merely entertainers. They do not dictate anything politically, at least not of their own cognizance. To put Thierry Henry in the class of Dick Cheney is not only wrong, it's foolish and misguided. It says more about Myles's hatred of our club and Henry then it does about the actual state of affairs.

Which brings me to the Arsenal angle of all this, because after all, this is an Arsenal blog. I feel the furore of the British media is partially generated by Henry's affiliation with Arsenal. As we all know, Thierry Henry is one of the best players to have ever played for Arsenal. His nonchalant brilliance upset many people, oftentimes praising his sublime skill while carrying a deep loathing for him buried inside. When the handball happened, John Cross of the Mirror tweeted this:

"Gutted. Heroes ain't supposed to do that. Ruins it for me. Next time Arsenal are cheated, no one can complain. This was a big game."

To which I ask, what the fuck does these events have to do with Arsenal? Absolutely nothing.

Which leads to Gooners who went out of their way to talk about how they've disowned Henry after the act of "blatant cheating." If you're an Irish Gooner, you may have some right to feel this way. If you're not, then shame on you.

His legacy should not be tainted by that one event, just like Robert Pires's actions against Portsmouth shouldn't taint our Invincibles achievement. These are the same Gooners who want to see us win at all costs, whether it's buying players for unreasonable sums of money or sacrificing our thrilling style to pick up points doing donkey work instead. That's frankly the attitude of a Manchester United or Chelsea fan.

Some might suggest that it was karmic justice that our streak ended with Wayne Rooney doing the same thing against us that Pires did to Portsmouth. And perhaps it's karmic justice that Ireland went out in that manner after receiving a bogus penalty decision against Georgia, a decision that could have cost Bulgaria a chance to be in the playoffs instead of Ireland.

So, that's just how things are. In football, things even out. Or they don't. It's football. Spare me the lessons in morality; I've been on both sides of the situation. I've had my heart crushed, and I've felt lucky that things went our way. Being "moral" about things like this just gets you one thing in life, a potential pie in your face when you're sheepishly celebrating something you claim to be against.

Anyway, we have a proper match tomorrow against Sunderland. This is obviously a trap game. We're playing at the Stadium of Light, two of our defenders played a full 120 minutes against Ireland, and we've suffered the loss of Robin van Persie and Kieran Gibbs.

A couple of things work in our favor. They have both Kenwyne Jones and Lee Cattermole out tomorrow. Jones provides them with a physical outlet that they'll lack because Darren Bent is hardly physical and Frazier Campbell is just a novice. Cattermole brilliant closed down Fabregas last year when he played for Wigan, so that's another bonus.

Sunderland have played well against some good teams this year. They should have beaten Manchester United, and they played well enough to win against Liverpool even without the beach ball. In a way, they already have their result against two of the "Big Four" teams. That may be to our benefit, but they'll still be going for the three points.

Meanwhile, we'll see how our front line works out. We're so fluid that it's not necessarily to think of a replacement for van Persie strictly in terms of a one player for one player way. What'll be important is the link up play and the movement that must be interchanged between Arshavin and whoever plays for van Persie.

This will be an important test. Win here and we go into the Chelsea match with some momentum. Three points would be most welcome.

Teddy Sheringham is a Lot Worse Than Henry

The woman above is called Katie Price Or Jordan. In Britain, she is a bimbo celebrity who became famous by posing topless in the tabloid newspaper The Sun. She has since modeled for other publications, appeared on a number of reality TV shows, and has created a variety of forgettable crap, such as writing an autobiography and failing at a music and fashion designing career.

She has a blind son with the now retired footballer Dwight Yorke, and two other children with the tacky Australian pop singer Peter Andre.

In 2000, she also briefly dated Teddy Sheringham, whom it is rumored, is the man that raped Miss Price. In September 2009, Miss Price claimed, while being interviewed by Hello magazine and filmed for her show on ITV2, that she was raped by a famous celebrity. The Sun reported that the entire production team was under strict instructions not to tell a soul, as the legal consequenses would be disastrous.

However, rumors persist that the man she named as her rapist is Teddy Sheringham.

Sheringham is not liked by many of his peers. Ex-Newcastle United, Arsenal and Manchester United striker Andy Cole hated Sherringham. The pair did not get along and haven't spoken to one another since February 7, 1998 - the day that Sheringham blamed Cole for a goal scored by Bolton, when both men were playing for Manchester United.

In the book, Glory, Glory, Cole claims that their rift started long before Sheringham signed for United back in the summer of 1997.

“Our problems started when I made my England debut. I replaced Teddy. I was making my debut. Maybe I was naive, but I think he should have wished me all the best. I was nervous, as anyone would be. Instead, he walked straight past me and blanked me. It's not like I told Terry Venables to take Teddy off. So I was devastated when Teddy Sheringham signed for United because I couldn't stand him.

“We played a friendly in Milan in 1997, just after he'd signed. He said something on the pitch. I didn't like it. 'I'm only trying to help you,' he said. 'I don't need your help,' I replied.”

Roy Keane in his autobiography wrote:

"Teddy Sheringham was signed from Spurs to replace Eric (Cantona). Teddy arrived for training at his first day at the club in his red Ferrari, every inch the confident Londoner. Teddy and I were acquainted from my Forest days. The chemistry between us was never right. And didn't improve during his spell at Old Trafford."

Even Tony Cascarino wrote when signing for Millwall in the late 1980's:

"That I was easily the biggest signing cut no ice with Teddy Sheringham, who struck me as a right cold fish in training and who started ordering me around in our opening game of the season at Middlesborough.

Teddy was four years younger than me and had been at the club for years, but for 90 minutes it was as if I was his understudy.

Go there!
Do this!
Chase Back!
Hold on!

I thought, 'Wait a fucking minute! I'm the 25 year old! I'm the one they've paid all the money for! This never happened at Gillingham!' But I soon learned that this was Teddy's way. He had to be boss.

Teddy is a policeman's son and it shows occasionally in his mannerisms. Sometimes you'll bounce something off him, expecting an immediate response and he'll just look at you, blank. He isn't a joker and can seem quite distant when you meet him first but he likes a good time."

Thierry Henry is currently Public Enemy number one. He will be until Fifa order a replay.

In my eyes, Teddy Sheringham will always be Public Enemy number one. He hates Arsenal, and Gooners hate him.

Sunderland Saturday.

Keep it Arsenal

TH12 - Erin's Bane

There is no doubt about it, Thierry Henry handled the ball before passing it to William Gallas who then headed past Shay Given. France will go to South Africa. Ireland will not.

Even if you are the most pro-French of the pro-French, you have to accept that there was a gross injustice done to the Ireland football team. But I ask you, with a FIFA World Cup Finals place on the line, is it beyond belief that a player would take a chance at scoring in any manner possible? I wonder how Michel Platini felt when he saw the replay. How ironic!

Some call it cheating. Since he's gotten away with it, others will call it opportunistic. It's a sad day for Ireland and maybe a sadder day for Henry, reputation-wise.

Unless the governing body implements an acceptable way for preventing this kind of thing, it will be seen as the real loser. This is a massive opportunity to get that done. Maybe the suggestion to place an official behind the goal isn't such a bad one after all.

So now Thierry Henry is the new Maradona. He will be forever remembered as the guy who cheated Ireland. He woke up yesterday a respected, revered, beloved footballer. He went to bed a controversial figure at best.

I don't like what Henry did. I will never condone it. With all due respect to the Irish however, I blame the referee and his assistant for not putting themselves in positions to see the infraction. Henry did what a high percentage of players would do.

This might be pouring salt on the wound but the purist in me would rather see Ribery run at defenders, not Duff. I feel sorry for the Irish fans but I couldn't be happier that Robbie Keane won't participate in South Africa. I'm somewhat disappointed that Henry's image has been tarnished but John O'Shea's missed chance made me smile.

Most important, I'm glad Gallas hasn't joined the list of injured Arsenal players.

The Most Irreplaceable Players at Arsenal

Obviously, no player is irreplaceable. We have the squad to cover our injury problems, but the truth remains that certain players are harder to replace in the starting XI than others.

Kieran Gibbs suffered an injury yesterday. Our first and second choice LB are now injured. Silently, Clichy has been projected for a longer spell on the sidelines. The same thing happened to us last year, where Clichy was only supposed to be out for a month and subsequently became a season ending injury. Clichy's back is suspect. But even with Gibbs' injury, we have options. The hardest thing for clubs to acquire seems to be a LB. There really aren't too many elite LB's out there, but we have the luxury of having three bona fide LB's. Armand Traore could deputize there, and we also have Pedro Botehlo out on loan. If that's not enough, we could easily use Silvestre and even Senderos there. Neither offer an attacking option, but defensively, they should be sound enough.

So, while other teams suffer when their LB's go down, we actually have it reasonably covered.

Now, Robin going down on the other hand, that injury made me consider this post.

The three hardest players to replace in the starting XI are:

1) William Gallas - As a right-sided central defender, his backup was Johan Djourou. He's out until March, at least that's what the Arsenal website says. Of course, we can plug in Silvestre or Senderos there. Wenger would probably choose that route, but there's still an unbalance. Neither Silvestre nor Senderos play the type of defense that Gallas provides. It would make more sense to play Sagna in central defense, but again I stress that what would occur is that Silvestre would get the first crack. The bottom line is, for as much heat he took last year, Gallas is the most natural right-sided recovery defender that we possess. Nobody else can do that job nearly as well, except possibly Sagna, until Djourou returns.

2) Alex Song - From Arsenal forum whipping boy to irreplaceable member of the starting XI. Such is the fear of the ACN that Arsenal fans are wondering already what we'll do. My guess would be that Denilson gets the first crack. For any Denilson haters, I won't use stats to support him. Instead, I'll just point out that Denilson played the role last year, he played it while we used a far more attacking formation and without Vermaelen. That being said, it's something he'll need to adjust to, as nobody has really played that position since Song has been a stalwart. Diaby could also do a job there, as could Nasri, although Wenger today suggested otherwise. You cannot argue against the power of Alex Song's appearance in the Wolves game, something fundamentally changed the game in our favor. And that had nothing to do with attack and more with the idea of balance.

3) Robin van Persie - He's been electric. Off to a slow start, he's been on fire. He's been dynamite. He'd won over nearly everybody, even Myles Palmer. Then, of course, he gets injured. Robin is one of the only false nines in world football today, a false nine being a player who seems to play as a forward but drops deep to help link up play. Robin, in the first few weeks, learned the valuable skill of leading a line. Eduardo could try to do the things that Robin does, but again, the adaptation to the role is not something anybody can pick up quickly. I've heard calls for Andrey to be fielded there, but methinks that may not work, unless we deployed strikers on both wings to supplement his positioning. Regardless, van Persie's loss on the offensive end will be felt.

This post isn't to suggest that these three players are the best players at Arsenal. They may or may not be, but it's to suggest they're hardest to replace in our optimal system. Cesc is also playing extremely well right now, but we have Ramsey, Rosicky, and even Nasri to deputize.

Arsenal tend to pick up injuries frequently. That's something to think about, but it's nothing to fret about. We have the squad depth needed to push through times like this.

New Zealand is a Rugby Nation

"I think an argument can now be made that the knockout stage of the Champions League is a more severe test (than the World Cup finals), with almost all the world's great players playing for top European clubs."

Roy Keane.

On Saturday, I congratulated New Zealand on reaching the World Cup finals for the second time in their history. To qualify, New Zealand played Bahrain, New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu.

On Wednesday night, France and Portugal could find themselves out of the World Cup finals. Players such as Ronaldo, Henry, Deco, Carvalho and Benzema will miss out. They will join the likes of Ibrahimovic, Rosicky, Berbatov and Vermaelen in not going to South Africa.

What can North Korea and New Zealand bring to the World Cup? Both are unlikey to win a game. The World Cup is a showcase tournament, where the best footballing countries test their skills to see which nation is the best in the world at soccer. Yet, Portugal - who are much better than both North Korea and New Zealand - may not be there.

Other nations that have qualified, such as Australia, qualified by playing in the wrong continental zone. They played teams in Asia, instead of Oceania. Isreal and Khazakhstan play their qualifying matches in the European zone, yet niether country is in Europe! While San Marino and Andorra are not countries.

World Cup qualifiication needs a major overhaul. When the USA played Barbados they beat them 8-0. Why not have the smaller nations play against each other, then let them join the big guns in a second qualification stage? Qualifying groups should be mixed involving countries from all over the world, with proper seeding. With worldwide travel and players from different nationalities plying their trade in every continent, this seems the most logical step forward.

But then FIFA is not a logical organization. After all they have Jack Warner as their Vice President.

Injuries Shouldn't End Our Chances

The difference between Niklas Bendtner's and Robin van Persie's injuries is when they happened - Nik for club, Robin for country. The club football vs. international football debate has resurfaced. It will never end as long as there are people who refuse to accept that international football has as much right to exist as does club football. Injuries not withstanding.

Arsenal line up for matches after preparing, training, strategizing, and bonding as a unit. That's what teams do. International or club, the football played is done by a group that trains and plans together. Otherwise it's just a high level pick-up game. That would be the real waste of time. Injuries are never part of the plan. They happen but the better prepared you are the less chance you'll get injured. International friendlies are the nation's means for preparing, experimenting, and fine-tuning.

International friendlies are called useless, needless, disruptive. I can understand the argument but I also reject it because national teams shouldn't be expected to play without preparation. When a player gets injured in a so-called useless friendly, it fuels the argument. It's a free opportunity to state the case against additional matches on a bloated calendar. Today is a day when the anti international football types will shout long and loud.

Businesses are dynamic. They are always evolving and looking for new ways to make a profit. Without matches, there are no profits. Players are commodities exploited for that purpose - even if they get paid well for it. Football is a business - The FA, UEFA, and FIFA are large companies. It's that simple. To blame international football for disrupting the domestic season is useless.

Business is business.

Arsenal is a big club with big ambitions. That's why we have multiple options at all positions. You might argue that the holding midfielder position needs reinforcement but we should have enough strikers to keep us from falling down the table, no?

Should we buy a striker in January?

Maybe!

How many more strikers are you going to buy?

Good question. Especially as we still have Jay Simpson on our books.

Injuries are the problem up front, not depth. And as proven recently by Nik and Theo before him, you can get injured playing for your club as easily as for your country. People need to stop blaming something that isn't going away and shouldn't go away.

At the time of writing, it hadn't yet been determined how long Robin will be sidelined. I've read two to three months. That would mean he returns fresh and raring to to go in late February at the latest. Shame as he's been in the finest form we've seen for a long time.

It's a massive blow for us but I feel we have enough to fill the void.

New Zealand Qualify

"Friendly internationals are a contradiction in terms presenting a problem in my mind. You're expected to perform and get a result, yet it does not really matter."

Roy Keane.

Saturday's in November should be for Premiership, La Liga, Bundesliga, Le Championnat and Serie A games, not international friendlies where teams make unlimited substitutions and play in neutral countries due to money.

Do you really want to watch Slovakia verses USA reserves?

How about a Darren Bent led England verses Brazil? Or Wales second string verses Scotland?

No, me niether.

Luckily, there are some World Cup play-offs on show.

Egypt v Algeria

Ireland v France

Portugal v Bosnia.

Lastly, I want to congratulate New Zealand for qualifying for the World Cup today. The last time they qualified was in Spain 1982. They played Brazil and lost 5-2 in what was one of the best Brazilian teams that never won the tournament. I hope this is a good omen.

Keep it Arsenal

Chelsea On My Mind

I'm not underplaying the provocative international matches tomorrow. France v. Ireland promises to be an intriguing fixture, with Raymond Domenech's head on the line. Portugal v. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a matchup ripe for an upset.

That being said, my head has been turned by the Chelsea players who will miss the match against us in two weeks time.

The players are Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Jose Bosingwa, and Ashley Cole. John Terry has a slight knock.

This is excellent news for two reasons.

The first, I don't need to mention. We must not allow Chelsea to extend their lead over us, and they will be primed to be pounced on, especially without Drogba who nearly always scores against us.

The second reason is less important. Because Chelsea will be missing key personnel, I'm sure people will underestimate the importance of the win. That will allow us to fly under the radar, something I'd prefer.

So I send out thanks to the English FA for using a plane to small to accommodate English players and Jonny Evans for his kung-fu tackle on Didier.

That being said, fingers crossed that our own players make it back from their own intense matches.

Ireland verses France

Eamon Dunphy is an ex-Millwall, Charlton and Reading player who played for Ireland 23 times back in the early 1970's. He's now a qualified coach, author and football pundit for Irish television channel RTE, but he's more famous for his outspoken and controversial opinions.

When Ireland drew with Italy 2-2 last month, being only three minutes away from beating the Italians, Dunphy blasted the Irish performance as "shameful." Dunphy is not a fan of the Irish style of play. He called Jack Charlton a bully and accused him of not making the best use of the players at his disposal, claiming that his Irish teams played "ugly football." Now he is a critic of Giovanni Trappatoni's style of play and managerial decisions.

On 5 September, 2009, after Ireland's last minute 2-1 away win against Cyprus, Dunphy stated "The performance over 90 minutes was depressing; it exposed the limitations of the coach’s philosophy."

Dunphy summed up how he felt about the Irish style of play under Trappotoni by writing: "When kids see Lionel Messi, Steven Gerrard or Ronaldo they want to go out in the park and do what they’ve seen the guys do the night before. Nobody wants to go out in the park in the morning and hit the ball 60 yards up in air."

Dunphy is not the only critic of Ireland's long ball approach to football. So too is Roy Keane. Today, Roy talks about his time playing for Ireland under Jack Charlton. If you're a Frenchman, it makes an interesting read:

"Charlton's approach to football was profoundly at odds with the game we played at Nottingham Forest. Passing the ball was not a priority. What he demanded was a kind of football by numbers, the emphasis being on inconveniencing the opposition rather than being creative ourselves. The idea was to fire long balls in behind the opposing defense, then hunt them down, with the intention of trapping them in their own half of the field, where we hoped we'd force them to make mistakes. "Put them under pressure" was Jack's football conviction. And "Make no mistakes, don't fanny around in your own half of the field."

"Not knowing exactly what was expected of me, apart from the effort I was happy to provide, I kept my head down and did my best to work out if there was any more to Charlton's magic formula than there appeared... Time would prove that there wasn't."

"Playing for Ireland was a strange experience. Ireland had some very good footballers, yet playing football in any systematic way in the pass and move style we adopted at Forest was frowned upon by Charlton. My job was to close down the opposition and if possible win the ball. Having gained possession, passing to an Irish colleague seemed the obvious next move."

"But that wasn't what Charlton wanted. His fear of Ireland giving the ball away - especially in our own half of the field - caused real inhibitions for me and most of the other players, who were forced to adapt to our own games to the Charlton method."

"The strikers instructions were:
(a) to win the long balls knocked up to them;
(b) to try and get in behind their markers for long balls played into space behind defenders."

"In situation (a), myself and Andy Townsend were to push forward to try and win balls knocked down or flicked on by the tall strikers."

"In situation (b) the whole side pushed forward with the intention of trapping our opponents in their own territory."

France know what they're up against on Saturday. A physical war where the right attitude is everything. Ireland's most creative player is Damien Duff. Robbie Keane is their goal threat and Stephen Hunt of Hull is their midfield enforcer. Shay Given is Ireland's best defender and he plays in goal.

Trappatoni's assistant is Liam Brady, Arsenal's Academy Director.

Ireland v France will be interesting.

Keep it Arsenal.

Long Live Robert Enke

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8353964.stm

On Song and Other Points

“It was July, 2005 and I came here with the chairman of Bastia,” Song told Arsenal TV Online.
“I walked into the dressing room and saw Robert [Pires], Thierry [Henry], Denis [Bergkamp]. It was unbelievable; they were players you watch on the TV.
“I just asked myself ‘Alex, what are you doing here?’

Countless others would ask the same question after seeing him play his first matches for Arsenal. They made up their minds early – they did not want him in the team. ‘What the f*uck was Wenger thinking’, they thought.

This is no way an effort to bring attention to how my colleagues at eighteen86 and I got it right while so many others were ready to send Alex Song packing. We fully acknowledge that he is not the finished article. He still needs to work on his passing and like all Arsenal players, his consistency. He has improved his reading of the game and his positional sense but there is always room for improvement.

On the plus side, Song has given a level of legitimacy to the Wenger youth plan. I heard a guy say this past weekend that he takes back what he said about Arsene’s policy. I was eager to hear him explain. He went on to say that he was a non-believer in the approach to building a team from scratch with kids but now he sees the value in the method. More important than one guy saying so is how there is a general consensus growing among many of those who were previously against it. We’ve bought potential world class players early and nurtured them. Key to the whole scheme is how we’ve managed to keep (most of) them thus far.

The plan can work, you know.

I am not suggesting that Alex Song is world class. He isn’t but can anyone doubt his improvement and importance to the team? I’ve asked a few people to tell me who are better holding midfielders in the EPL. Naturally, Michael Essien comes to mind but he really is more than a holding midfielder. Mascherano comes up next.

…and then there were none.

I tell them that just mentioning Alex Song in the same sentence as Mascherano says loads. Just last season, I was ridiculed for even suggesting that he was worthy of a first team place. A man who’s opinion I respect likened him to a lesser Eric Djemba-Djemba. You remember him don’t you? I remember him for planting his foot in Sol’s groin (no yellow by the way for the first failed replacement for Roy Keane. Surprised?). The news highlights only showed Sol’s retaliation. Maybe you don’t remember him since I can’t imagine that there are highlights of anything else Djemba-Djemba’s ever done.

I am not one to say I told you so but he ain’t no Alex Song.

Song provides cover for the CBs in a way that most reserve players do not. It is seamless when he lines up for us at the back. People forget that we bought him as a central defender. His versatility is priceless.

In a little less than one week, it will be 15 years since Argentina and Germany played a friendly at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Lothar Matthaus still had enough left to play his 105th international for Germany. He played as a libero but with a slight variation to the classical role. He played in front of rather than behind the back four. In essence, that is what Alex Song does for Arsenal.

When Gallas and Vermaelen were showing up on the score sheet every week it wasn’t just because they like to get forward and know what to do in front of goal. They were given the freedom to get there by Song. There’s a trust that’s built amongst players that gives them the confidence to try certain things they wouldn’t try otherwise. The back four and Cesc trust Song to that degree. Our captain’s spectacular form is partially due to the freer free role he enjoys.

When players leave for the African Cup of Nations in January, the fear is that Wenger won’t have a plan to replace Song.

Heh! The guy has gone from a hated player deemed as ‘just not good enough’ to striking fear in the hearts of Arsenal fans who don’t think that the manager will spend on cover for him. Fans who used to doubt the player now see his value to the team.

I don’t know what Wenger will do in January. Maybe a deal is already in place to bring back PV4. I can’t imagine Mourinho helping us though. I heard someone mention a loan move to bring back Flamini. It’s not the worst idea but one very unlike Arsene. Maybe Wenger will promote from within. Or he might not make a move at all. We shall see.

Alex Song has made his point.

Other points:

Are Liverpool in freefall? Do they have a squad capable of reversing the current run of bad form? Imagine if Arsenal were going through the same thing. We were poor at times last season but we were also among the most consistent teams for a large part of the season. On current form, Liverpool will be happy to make the last four of anything.

I didn’t realize City are without a league win since the leaves were still green. Oh dear! Again, imagine if Arsenal were in the same boat. The media (and fans) would be in a frenzy – ‘Frenchie Has Lost The Plot’, ‘Dein-Usmanov Coup Imminent’. Arsene would be ridiculed to no end – ‘Ha! you can’t win with kids you stubborn, half blind Alsacian’. Gallas and Vermaelen would hate each other with rumours of a fight video taken down from YouTube by the club. Cesc and Arshavin would be off to Catalunya with Thierry and Bojan coming to London. The curse of Kolo would hang over the club.

And they’d never let us forget selling that other guy to City.

Where are the endless, tabloid-type Liverpool and man City in Crisis headlines?

The FIFA U17 World Cup has gone under the radar. If you’re interested;
http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/matches/index.html

Three Things

1) Darren Fletcher is an overrated idiot. He should shut up.

2) I hope nobody brings up Eduardo when talking about the N'Gog penalty decision yesterday. People certainly will, but there's a world of difference between the two.

3) For your amusement:

Arshavin chose to be the shark. Credit to Kickette.

Is that David Beckham or Morrissey?

Some things never change. My wife has not sucked my cock in two years, Spurs fans still believe that they are a top four team and Alex Ferguson gets away with another verbal attack on a referee after his team has lost.

Then we have the MLS play-offs which I compare to teenage dating. Trying to get a wank in the back row of the movies while Aladdin is playing. Meanwhile the real players are smoking weed and drinking Crown in some decked out pad with the sounds blaring. MLS will always lag behind the NBA and EPL. Teenagers trying get a wank, that's all it is.

Then there's the pathetic LA Super Classico ruck with David Beckham showing off his new haircut which looks as though some mental patient cut it. Shaved sides, long on top. You look like that miserable singer from the Smiths, Morrissey. You pathetic tosser!

So we have just under two weeks ahead of us with no Arsenal matches. Sure we have the Ireland verses France World Cup qualifying play-off, but really, that game is like methadone for a heroin addict. We Arsenal fans have to wait until November 21st for our next fix - Sunderland away. By the way, Steve Bruce, the Black Cats manager looks scary. A monster in fact. He looks like someone staring at themselves through the back of a spoon. Horrible.

Last words come from Roy Keane again. Today he talks about Wolves manager Mick McCarthy and ex-Ireland boss Jack Charlton during a tour of the USA in 1992.

In the morning we were due to fly home, Steve Staunton and I went out for a drink. We forgot about the time and were late arriving back to the team hotel. The rest of the party were sitting on the coach outside. Steve and I raced to our rooms to pack our bags. As we boarded the coach, 'Big Jack' started ranting and roaring: "Where the fucking hell have you been? You've kept us all waiting."

"Why didn't you go without us?" I shot back. "I didn't ask you to wait."

In the silence that followed, I looked him straight in the eye. He niether frightened nor impressed me. He was a bully who didn't like it when the ball was on the other foot. He backed off. I took my seat in the back of the bus.

"You're right out of order, you." Looking up I saw Mick McCarthy Captain Fantastic himself, glaring down at me.

"Go and fuck yourself," I told him.

Keep it Arsenal

Post Match View - Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Before Ronald Zubar knocked an Arsenal corner into his own net with his thigh, Wolves were applying effective pressure in midfield and even had a few chances to go ahead. They were also playing a high line in defence. Missed chances, leaving so much space behind the back line, and exerting so much energy from the start were always a recipe for disaster.

The own goal burst Wolves' bubble for sure, but even if it had not happened, I doubt they would have been able to maintain the same level of effort as in the opening period, throughout 90 minutes. The energy levels of Arsene Wenger's teams are underestimated. Time after time, we've seen teams apply tremendous pressure early in matches only to run out of steam and be punished by the fitter Gunners.

Can you recall stamina ever being an issue with Arsenal?

As it turned out, we ended up winning 4-1. A second own goal and strikes from Cesc and Arshavin ensured that there'd be no shock result. Another injury and another late goal allowed however, have made the victory a bit less satisfying. Nonetheless, we managed to gain ground on Man Utd. Chelsea squeezed out a 1-0 victory against them at Stamford Bridge in a match that featured Johnny "Ninja" Evans.

There has been criticism of how vulnerable we can be in defence. Late goals allowed against Everton, AZ, and West Ham point to a need to stay focused every minute until the final whistle. Another criticism has been that we haven't beaten any top four teams. Some say that our losses to both Manchester clubs are more telling than the unbeaten streak we're currently on. They say the high scoring football we're playing has more to do with weak opposition than our own prowess. They say that recent talk in the media about us being legitimate title contenders is just talk.

Outsiders will always doubt us until we raise a pot or two, preferably the EPL title, at minimum. It's more important that the players know how good they are and how much they can achieve together under Arsene Wenger than what critics think about them. Yesterday's three points have put us in second place with a game in hand.

This is a very interesting season so far. The criticism we're getting tells me people are afraid of The Arsenal.

Mick McCarthy

Mick McCarthy either looks like an American Bald Eagle or Bert from Sesame Street.

Last week, after getting the rub of the green on two different calls, he said this:

"We've had a few go against us this season and I've accepted them with good grace, it's about time someone else had to. Brilliant. Superb."

That quote made me laugh, and I find him to be an entertaining man overall. When he was last in the Premier League with Sunderland, he routinely called it like it is, mainly calling his team pathetic.

After all these years, I do not know whether he is a good manager or not. I do know that he's good enough to win promotion to the Premier League routinely.

Yesterday, he said:

"I won't be sat with a beer in my hand thinking we just let them roll us over and tickle our belly. We will try to play on the front foot. It is not written in stone under Premier League rules that Wolves can't get anything off Arsenal."

That made me laugh as well.

Wolves and Sex

"Boxing helped me develop as a sportsman. Skipping and sparring made me more agile. I also acquired a certain confidence when confronted by physical aggression. I was still very small for my age and the techniques and disciplines learned in the boxing ring provided me with a psychological edge: I could look after myself even though I was small and shy."

Roy Keane (ex-Ireland captain).

On Saturday, Wolves host Arsenal. Wolves are a physical side. Tough in the tackle, organized, very fit and aggressive in the air. To stop Arsenal from winning, they will try and stop Arsenal and Fabregas from playing: cut off the flanks, pressurize early, test their keeper with high crosses, don't give them time on the ball.

In games like this, players like Gallas, Song and Vermaelen are key. It will be a physical battle. Soldiers are required. The artists will perform in the last 15 minutes.

Wolves have no artists, just foot soldiers.

Remember Wolves only want a point. Arsenal want a win.

In a game like this, attitude is key: Take the field with the wrong attitude and no matter how much ability you possess, you will lose.

It's like sex.

Men are like Wolves, women are like Arsenal. A man does not need foreplay. A woman does. She needs slick one touch, two touch moves. Stroking the ball around like a feather gently stroking her breast. She needs candles that smell of spice and lavender, gentle but progressive music, good wine, gourmet cushions on the bed, silk, romance, two hour haircuts in her favorite salon and massages of love.

Men, like Wolves, need a long ball down the middle, a big man to win it in the air and scrambled goal to help them avoid the drop. Once it's in, who cares about the aftermath - it's all about the three points, another notch on the bedpost and staying up for the next EPL season. After all, a goal is a goal and a hole is hole.

Making love has never been an Englishman's past time. They leave that for foreigners. Wolves are not love makers when it comes to football. They, like Stoke, don't claim to be. They leave that to the Arsenal's of this world.

A side note. I went to climb a mountain with the missus the other day. We got very high up. She got vertigo, I got annoyed and we climbed back down the mountain before we made the top. As we climbed back down, I watched her ass and decided I wanted to screw. I pulled her into some bushes. She asked what I was doing. I told her I was feeling frisky. She told me that she couldn't just pull down her pants and let me "go for it." Other hikers could be around, we could get arrested, where were the candles of lavender, the soft music, the romance? By this stage my moss, algae, H1N1 covered fingers tried to unzip her jeans and put a long ball into the box. She gave me the red card.

Wolves and Stoke she was not. But at that moment, I had descended into Rory Delap of Stoke: the throw-in King. All I wanted was the ball thrown into the box and a scrambled effort for a goal. Style didn't come into it, not when you are in the bushes. It's all about getting it up, getting it in and getting the three points.

Female orgasms are for the Arsenal's of this world. Not the Wolves.

Keep it Arsenal

There Was A Game Today

Arsenal won 4-1.

I am pleased.

Here's Your Chance Kieran

Gael Clichy has been struck down with another back injury. At the end of last year, Clichy sustained a back injury which was initially forecasted as a four week injury. That eventually sidelined him for the entire season. Kieran Gibbs stepped in to secure the breach, and while he did the best he could, he ultimately will be remembered for slipping in the Champions League semi, allowing United to walk into the Final.

So, here we are again. Clichy with another back injury, and Arsene saying he'll be out for one or two months. I wouldn't be surprised if he was out for longer; we just cannot be sure with those pesky back injuries (remember Gilberto Silva in 04-05).

Wenger seems a bit unnerved by this, if only because he wants a full squad so he can rotate in the upcoming weeks.

That being said, we do have left backs as cover, Wenger pointedly saying that we do not lack left backs in the club. That in itself is a boon, considering that the left back position is amongst the most scouted across the world. It is quite simply a hard position to recruit.

And here comes Kieran Gibbs. With the knowledge that Capello is watching his development, if Gibbs performs to his potential, he could play well enough to permanently dislodge Clichy.

I love Gael, but he's not without his flaws. He was a fantastic player until the slip against Tottenham, and after that, a combination of nerves and injuries has made him look, at times, unspectacular. With rumors of Real Madrid hovering, perhaps if Gibbs plays well enough, Clichy may be sold. I would miss him, but Gibbs has the potential to be better.

Clichy will never possess an attacking mind. His crosses are below average, and he's been put on a leash by Wenger recently. Kieran Gibbs has been solid, and he's a converted winger, the same as Ashley Cole.

I could care less about the England factor, but a more important thing to keep in mind is that Gibbs would be an Arsenal Academy player.

Today, against AZ, Gibbs will be given the chance of a lifetime, for oftentimes Arsenal players make their way into the starting XI by way of injuries.

We must show that we have learned our lesson. And Gibbs must show that he has learned his.