Saturday quickie

A quick one this morning as I’m off to play golf. It’s green here as opposed to the dry dirt of Barcelona.

Good news to start with is that both Djourou and Gallas have been included in the squad for the Charlton game. AW said:

William is travelling and will have a fitness test tomorrow. The scan looks quite positive and his injury looks OK so I am very happy. Johan Djourou is travelling too so one of the two will play.

That is a relief. Given how quickly they got Gallas back it’s no wonder the boss was praising his back room staff yesterday. From Ricey to Boro to Gary Lewin and Doris the tea-lady, the manager is appreciative of their contribution to the success of the team. Quite right too.

AW also reckons the captaincy has matured Thierry Henry, that William Gallas looks good in red and white praising the defender’s experience and what he brings to the team and that not all agents are scumbag spiv conmen only interested in money ahead of their clients’ careers.

And that’s that. Man this is an early start on a Saturday morning and the mug smasher isn’t coming to pick me up till 8.30. I should have stayed in bed a bit more.

Oh well. Have a good Saturday. Talk tomorrow.

Defensive worries ahead of Charlton

Morning all and we’ll start with some worrying team news ahead of tomorrow’s game with Charlton. We know William Gallas has a hamstring tweak and is almost certain to miss the game but Johann Djourou will have a fitness test today to see if he can take part. If not that leaves Kolo Toure the only fit first team defender and the manager is thinking about using Gilberto or Alex Song. He says:

We are short of central defenders at the moment because Philippe Senderos is still out. But Alex Song can fill in. He has played in central defence. Gilberto can play there too so we will just have to see.

Gilberto I could cope with but the thought of Alex Song at centre-half scares the shit out of me. And how must promising young players like reserves captain Matthew Connolly feel, who is listed as part of the first team squad on the Arsenal website, when the manager is considering playing the most mediocre midfied player he has ever signed as a central defender? Fingers crossed Djourou makes it and no doubt we’ll find out later at the manager’s traditional press conference.

In the meantime he has again expressed his concerns about foreign owners of English clubs and although some people might think it’s a bit rich that a Frenchman complains about foreign owners you have to say he has a point. There were the usual stories yesterday about AW having a job for life at Arsenal following his 10 years in charge and even Roy Keane got caught up in the moment.

Alex Hleb says he’ll shoot more but he says if he thinks a team mate is in a better position then he’ll pass it. I think he’s been under instructions to be more decisive and at one point during the Porto game the manager got a bit agitated with him for not having a go. Three minutes into the second half and he scores. He’s also got plenty of power in his shooting and although his first instinct is to create he’s got to be a bit more selfish when he has sight of goal.

From Arsenal News Review the other day:

LETTERS like this convince me that ANR readers are the creme de la creme of world club football. We have smarter readers than many other websites. And that’s encouraging. I like writing for an educated clientele. This reader, Harry Barracuda, is right.

Now, just for the fun of it go here and read the 4th comment. If that’s the creme de la creme I’m quite happy with the bunch of despicable reprobates that come here every day. I love you all you filthy scumbags.

And that’s it. More tomorrow.

Happy anniversary, Arsene.

It was 10 years ago today that Arsene Who took over at Arsenal. We are all expecting Cruyff and then AW was announced. I’d wager 99.9% of us were scratching our heads wondering exactly who he was. ‘Blimey!’, I thought, ‘this is a right flipping turn up for the books!’. I was not as sweary back then, you see.
European coaches in England were non-existent and without wuch widespread coverage of European football on TV and internet the rofile of foreign coaches was not as high as it is now when every Tom, Dick and Harry knows about your Capellos, Hiddinks and Swedish conmen.

There’s not much point in me listing the things he’s done for the club. You all know as well as I do what he’s achieved and the things he’s changed. You just have to read what the players say about him to appreciate his impact:

Lee Dixon – Arsene has undoubtedly been one of the biggest influences on the modern-day Premiership. It was an absolute pleasure to play under him.

Freddie Ljungberg – He is a great coach, that is the best way to describe him.

Cesc Fabregas – I will always say nice and positive things about Arsene Wenger because he has been the most important and influential person in my career.

Thierry Henry – He is unique. Arsene has changed the view people have of the club.

And how can you argue with them? Happy anniversary, Arsene. Thanks for everything.

In a quick round up of the other stories Cesc feels the way we play football is suited to Europe and that he feels more comfortable playing in a 4-3-3 formation.

Bob Wilson feels Jens Lehmann should get more protection from referees and Theo Walcott’s agent said they turned down more money from Chelsea so that Theo could join Arsenal and play under Arsene Wenger, saying:

We chose Arsenal because I’ve never met a more genuine and decent man than Arsene.

See, even agents like him!

Right, that’s that for today. Till tomorrow.

3 points, 2 goals, 1 great cross

Three points again, this is becoming a nice habit.I only saw highlights because the networks in their wisdom had Celtic v FC Copenhavn and Benfica v United on two channels each while Arsenal, last year’s finalists playing 2004′s winners, were on ITV4. Bunch of twats.

From what I could gather from the highlights we played pretty well despite Porto having some periods of possession. We should have opened the scoring when Thierry played in Robin van Persie but he put a right foot shot over the bar. Robin also had another couple of shots which forced saves from the keeper and although it wasn’t his night you feel he just needs a goal to get his season going.

Now, I’ve been critical of Emmanuel Eboue’s crossing this season but I take my hat off to the lad today. According to Thierry he’s been working hard on it in training and it shows. He whipped in a in beautiful ball for Henry to nod home his 50th European goal for Arsenal and his second header in a matter of days as it was almost a carbon copy of his goal against Sheffield United. What was so frustrating about Eboue’s early season habit of booting it into the crowd was the fact you knew he could do better so fair play to him for putting that right.

Early in the second half Alexander Hleb took a shot instead of looking for another pass (something noted by Arsene) or trying to play someone else in and made it 2-0 to Arsenal. I like Hleb, I have to say, and I think he’s going to be a big player for us this season. With him and Rosicky on the flanks we’ve got pace, skill and hard work. Rosicky looks a class act, he doesn’t give up on lost causes, gets stuck in (bullshit decision from the ref to give him a yellow for a great tackle last night – did anyone else see the ref push one of our players in the chest?) and he can shoot from distance.

Overall we deserved the win and we’re now building up a nice bit of momentum with 4 wins on the trot and only one goal conceded to the eight we’ve scored.

The only negative from last night was the impressive William Gallas picking up a hamstring strain that could keep him out for three weeks. With Johann Djourou picking up an injury in the warm up and Senderos still out we have to hope it’s not too serious. I’m not sure how Justin Hoyte did last night but post match AW said he was pleased with his performance.

Last word on last night to the boss who summed it up nicely:

I’m pleased because we looked stronger and stronger, well balanced, and confident going forward, it was a very positive performance tonight.

In other news Cuntley Cunt’s agent, Cuntathon Cuntnett, has been banned for 18 months, 9 suspended, by the FA for his part in the Colegate affair. Sadly it won’t stop him picking up his wad of cash for the Cuntley transfer and in reality it won’t stop him doing business but it’s still nice to see. Crystal Palace chairman and hater of agents, Simon Jordan, reckons Cuntnett has been vilified and his reputation tarnished. I reckon he’s a cunt and I wish he wasn’t Kolo’s agent as well.

And that’s that. No hangover today but my new team won their first league game of the season 8-1 last night, all built on a solid central defensive partnership. Oh yes.

Till tomorrow.