A slow morning in Christmas week

It’s a pretty quiet morning because all the journos are off doing their Christmas shopping/lying in a heap in the gutter somewhere. Well, most of them.

Arsene Wenger is still talking the team up and says he hasn’t given up on the title. Of course nobody likes a quitter and you don’t win anything by giving up and it’s not over till the fat lady sings and there’s still a long way to go and you never know what can happen and football is a funny old game and such but he might be, you know, sort of living in a dream world or something. He says:

It looks far away, and that is why I believe at the moment it would look a bit pretentious to say that we will be champions this time – but on the other hand, I have not given up

Which I suppose is fair enough really. Emmanuel Adebayor reckons this Arsenal side will be the team to beat in the future, but not quite now. He says:

When I look at our squad I think we’ll be unstoppable within the next two seasons. With talented guys like Emmanuel Eboue, Cesc Fabregas, Johan Djourou and Theo Walcott, we’re the future of the English game and everyone can see that now.

In fact, the future is so bright I gotta wear shades, however as a wise woman from Arklow once sang “The time is now”. Make of that what you will.

Apart from that there’s not much going on. There’s some speculation about Leighton Baines from Wigan joining us but it’s from one of those sites which is about as believable as OJ Simpson. There’s also some speculation about some goalkeepers including the Russian Igor Vladivstok Anastasia Akinefeev and that one even has some quotes but it smacks of agent trying to get interest in his player rather than us actually being interested.

Now, I had best take my hangover and try and record an arsecast for tomorrow. Until then…

Mother nature fogs up the Carling Cup game

So no football last night because of heavy fog. Officials called the game off at 6.45pm and by 7.45pm the fog had gone, apparently. Still, it was foggy here last night. Realistically visibility was only around 50 yards so if it was like that at Anfield I can understand it.

Both Benitez and Wenger wanted the game to go ahead though and having to reschedule causes a bit of a headache. The Anfield stadium manager expects the game to be played on either January 9th or 10th so, with the FA cup game on the 6th, it’ll mean two consecutive trips to Merseyside for the players and fans. And you really have to have sympathy for all the travelling Arsenal fans who went all that way last night. No doubt the club will make some kind of a gesture to them for their travels. A free flag or something, I’d bet.

Thierry Henry talks about how the misses in the Champions League final still haunt him. Not so much the one early in the game but the one that could have made it 2-0 must be a sickener for him because it’s surely a sickener for us. He also talks about his families:

I’m emotionally involved at Arsenal. Without the club perhaps I wouldn’t have met my wife and I wouldn’t have had our daughter. Arsenal, my wife and my daughter — these are two families. My heart tells me I’m in the right place.

Splendid. Let’s just have him back fit, hungry and raring to go.

The Sun is reporting that Arsenal want to sell Jose Antonio Reyes to Real Madrid in January in order to finance some signings. Real want Reyes but they don’t want to pay money. They just want us to keep Baptista instead and Arsenal aren’t keen on that idea preferring straight cash. Certainly we haven’t seen anything of what Baptista looked to be capable of when he played in La Liga but then again he hasn’t been helped by arriving without a pre-season to speak of and picking up injuries. As well as that he’s been left on the sidelines while Aliadiere has played so you have to wonder if he’s ever going to get his chance. Maybe he just needs more time to adapt.

Not much else happening to be honest. I’m still looking for your contributions for this week’s arsecast. You can go here and record a message, a seasonal greeting for your fellow Arsenal fans, a lengthy tirade against something (note the ‘lengthy’, I need to make up the time), or anything else. Don’t be shy. Come on.

Right, only 5 shopping days till Christmas. Luckily for me I have all mine done. Potatoes all around. Hurrah!

Wenger facing touchline ban, Liverpool preview

An early blog this morning as I have a very early start. I’m not used to having to go outside this early. It’s a bit dark and weird and scary but see how I don’t neglect you? Other blog owners would simply not blog. Not me. I’ll get up even earlier than I have to to ensure your dose of my shite is dripping down your screens just like any other morning.

We’ll start with the news that Arsene Wenger has been charged with misconduct by the FA after being sent to the stands at half-time during the Portsmouth game on Saturday. He has until the 5th of January to respond to the charge and unlike the Alan Pardew incident this is one that it looks like he’ll be contesting. He said:

The West Ham game was a special game and after the game I said I was wrong and I regretted what I did and I accepted the punishment. I was amazed I was banned from the touchline in the second half, because considering what I have seen in the corridors the last ten years, it is difficult to explain. I will not accept any charge on that incident. I feel that strongly about it.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Despite his assurance that he didn’t swear or lose his temper he obviously said something to Steve Bennett to get ‘sent off’. He hinted at that when he said:

I didn’t lose my cool, I just said I just feel the reason the club has been punished was by decisions that are difficult to explain from officials.

Was he suggesting that there was some kind of direction from above as an explanation for the decisions that went against us or was he questioning, however subtley, the integrity of the officials? If so then he really needs to step back and take stock. Yes, some of the decisions have been shite but we have shite decisions made against us every season just like every other club. Perhaps Steve Bennett misunderstood what Arsene was saying and it will all be cleared up when he responds to the charge. However, he was warned about his future conduct just last week and the FA might not look kindly on this no matter what he didn’t do.

Ahead of tonight’s game against Liverpool Manuel Almunia reckons that they’ll be out for revenge after the 3-0 win we had over them in the league. In terms of the team it looks like we’ll respond to Liverpool’s team, which is going to be a strong one, and the main news is that Tomas Rosicky is likely to start. The boss said:

It will be a good team against Liverpool. There will be a few young players and a few players who need a game. Rosicky will play certainly.

Given the opposition, their current form and how hard to beat they’ve been at Anfield this season we just couldn’t risk playing as inexperienced a team as we might have had the opposition been ‘lesser’. We might have found ourselves on the wrong end of a result like we did against Chelsea in this competition a few years back. As well as Rosicky you’d have to think we’ll see the obvious changes like Senderos, Hoyte and probably Alex Song to give Cesc, Kolo et al a rest.

Rafael Benitez has taken a swipe at Arsenal’s youth policy, accusing us of buying up good young players and he says Liverpool can’t compete. He claims they were monitoring Diaby, Walcott and Denilson but simply couldn’t afford them. That’s probably because he was paying millions for shite like Jermaine Pennant and Bolo Zenden. We might bring in more youth than we produce but for Liverpool to cry poor mouth is fucking hilarious.

Anyway, a good result tonight would be nice even if it is just the Carling Cup. Not least because I’ll be watching with the Mug Smasher.

Arsene says he’ll discuss Jens Lehmann’s future in January or February and will only offer the German a one year deal because of his age. I think a lot of it depends on Jens’ motivation. Does he want to play for a year in the Bundesliga before he retires and at 37 he doesn’t have long left. I wonder will Arsene’s decision be swayed by what happened with David Seaman who was given perhaps two seasons too many at the club before the boss sought to replace him.

There’s been lots of discussion across the various sites and message boards about the club’s decision to ban flags from the ground. As someone rightly pointed out the players themselves will be disappointed that fans from their country can’t fly their flag to show have far they’ve come to support our team. For an example of what was banned on Saturday before the Portsmouth game click on the thumbnail here and see the flag that the French Gooners spent their money on to support Arsenal.

They were refused entry with the flag and that really is a bit shit.

And that’s about that. Don’t forget if you want to leave a message for this Friday’s arsecast I’m looking for you to tell me what you’d like the Arse Santa to bring to the club this Christmas. Just go to this page, record your message and Bob is, quite literally, your uncle.*

More tomorrow.

*Bob may not be your uncle at all.

Monday round-up, Arsenal goes PC mad…

Here we are, just a week before Christmas and there’s a distinct lack of festive cheer around the place. I should add some snowmen or something.

We’ve got a Carling Cup game against the Mug Smashers tomorrow night and then Blackburn visit the Grove on Saturday. In the wake of the Portsmouth game Arsene Wenger has said he’s a sore loser. He says:

It hurts me as much as ever when we lose games and it is the same when we drop points. If you can introduce me to some good losers in this game, then I would like to meet them. There is no room for good losers here. If you lose a game and you feel you have conceded the first goal from a wrong free-kick then you do not have the right to say because you are seen as being a bad loser.

I think what you’re being seen as is someone who’s clutching at straws a bit. As Goodplaya suggests Arsene’s anger may well be misdirected in this case and he is facing a touchline ban having already been warned about his conduct by the FA. It wasn’t the officials who merited his ire at the end of the first half, it was his team.

Double-D says that there will be no January signings. Of course we’ve got Gallas, Henry, Rosicky, Lauren and Diaby to come back and they will make a difference but there will still be those people who think we need to do something in the transfer market. Amazingly Arsene Wenger has again said we won’t buy but revealed he might sell in January. I’m not quite sure how to react to that other than to rub my eyes a bit and look at the screen to make sure I’m reading it right.

Thierry Henry says he followed his heart when he decided to stay at Arsenal, Cesc Fabregas reveals his contempt for Cuntley Cunt while the club has decided to ban all national flags from the new stadium, a move that smacks of PCism and one which will be looked on unkindly by many fans while the club carry certain advertising.

So all you Irish Gunners and Swiss Gunners and Swedish Gunners and all the rest will have to leave your banners at home. Just hang up a white sheet with some red writing. That’s until some cunt complains that the colour red offends him and they’re banned too. Nonsense.

Ok, that’s about it. Seeing as it is Christmas week though let’s try something for this Friday’s festive arsecast. Go to this page and using the built-in mic in your computer (if you have one) or an external mic (if you have one) leave a message telling what you would like the Arse Santa to bring to the Arsenal this Christmas. Maybe a new player, some glue to keep people in their seats, someone to shut the fucking match day MC up when he says ‘Shout them back at me, Gooners’ as the half-hearted responses to his announcement of the team boom around the stadium.

I’ll edit them up, play some Christmas music behind them and play them on this week’s arsecast. Be as creative as you like. Ok, that’s it. Liverpool preview tomorrow.