Thank God for Chelsea.

Greetings, Gooners and Goonerettes alike! On the subject of the headline, a word of explanation for these who did not read my yesterday’s post: in the match preview I made a calculation where it was possible for ManIOU to win the league at our ground. I can’t quite remember where I got it wrong, pretty sure it had something to do with the number of games Chelsea had left to play, but since all those presumptions led to writing that funny paragraph about getting  the stay of execution, I have just decided to add a little post scriptum to calm some nerves. Instead of taking it out altogether, I have opted for a  little explanation with regards to why I preferred to keep it there. Someone said that once a good hypothesis is made and the facts won’t fit in, so much the worse it is for the facts. But hey, at least I am transparent about the small error I made and to be honest, it was not that much far off. It’s the LITTLE lapses that make us human and all that…

The title of today’s article is referring to the only reason why the darkest of scenarios is certain not to unfold before the very eyes of the fans gathered inside the ES on the May Day. Yes dear readers, this season just does not stop giving: we have been handed countless chances to catch up with the dire Mancs, but since we would just choke each and every time, there could be only one winner and that is Chelsea. And ironically, their gain is also ours, as if it was not for them being just six points off the pace, we would be running a serious risk of seeing a Yoonited player lifting the first ever Premiership trophy at the Ems in a week’s time if we were to fail to deny them a win. So, once again, thank you Chelsea for sparing us blushes as even this team can’t conspire to cock this up, save for some point deduction from your tally.

Please excuse this little bit of gallows humour as I am hurting as much as you are. Quite frankly, come to think of it, had the first ever title celebration at the shiny ‘new’ stadium not been such an important chapter in the club’s history, I would not mind seeing this travesty on the May Day a whole lot. Sure, we would have to endure ‘We won the league at Emirates’ for the foreseeable future, but hey, nothing less than earned, eh? Trust me, if I hear as much as one more word about bad luck from Our Glorious Leader’s mouth, I’ll just laugh. Because it’s all this nonsense deserves.

You won't like him when he's angry. Or something.

Since I am the ‘credit and criticism where it’s due’ kind of person, it’s credit time: what you see above is slightly altered image from this website. The man behind the ‘Arsenalisation’ of the Man of Steel is once again the pride of Ireland, Photoshop wizard world’s answer to Brendan Behan’s ‘drinker with a writing problem’, the person behind that nice banner on the top of the page, our dear friend and fellow blogger Tiarnan! I have emailed him the idea and it took him less time than it takes the current Arsenal team to lose a lead in a crucial game and that is saying something. The initial idea was to post the above picture in the next game’s preview article, but all the Kryptonite in the universe could not keep the Superdude under the wraps after the yesterday’s debacle. He looks mighty pissed off, you know? And he is wearing one of these white coats I told you about some days ago. Or is it a cape?

No points for guessing what my new avatar is!

I guess this is the moment where I should say a few words about yesterday’s game, but I’d rather not. Why, some will ask. The explanation is fairly simple: I could just take a few match reports I have posted until now, copy and paste some random stuff about no one closing down the opposition, overelaborate tippy tappy 5-a-side pursuit of happiness and FIFA Street style goals, Song playing shit, Theo being unable to beat his player in one-on-one situation and other same ol’ unaddressed shortcomings so clear for everyone to see  and it would still make sense. I could go on a rant about Wenger’s antics on the touchline, but I will just stop short of that as well, given that it’s not big and not clever to kick someone when he is down, and we Gooners have more class than that, don’t we? Think of what Seth Gecko said:

‘I may be a bastard, but I’m not a fucking bastard’.

I simply can’t be asked to write the same article over again, if it is the match report you seek, I am inclined to give you the best of both worlds (one at a time, that is) – LeGrove and A Cultured Left Foot. We don’t discriminate! For the masochists, there is also the Arsenalist with video highlights.

Thank you for reading! Due to other worldsaving duties, I may now go quiet for a few days, but I promise to drop by to write at least once this week! Realistically, one rant and one interview is scheduled before another weekend kicks in properly. Interview with whom? Now, now, that would be telling…

All I want for Easter is…

…three points from the trip to Bolton. Not getting too greedy, am I, dear Easter Bunny? Despite once again hearing about the need to believe and how winning the last five games will yield us a major trophy, I can’t help thinking that all we can count on this season is that little bit of Schadenfreude when we celebrate the St Totteringham’s Day. Our loanee, Carlos Vela did his bit yesterday by the way of providing an assist for the first goal against the scum and almost scoring one just after the start of the game, but I guess we will still need to keep that cheap fizzy plonk on ice until we are properly out of their reach and we can take our solace in the Gooner universe’s answer to Xmas.

Vela’s exploits of yesterday as well as the other few games when he was given his limited chances put the Chicharito’s match winning goals and the widespread claims about us getting the ‘wrong Mexican’ (or a Mexican’t if you were to believe Johnny Depp) into perspective, wouldn’t you agree? Carlos is a player that has it all: pace, tricks and knowledge where the goal is, which can’t be overvalued when we are struggling for goals ourselves and there are seemingly not too many ‘triers’ in our team, unless the players decide to rise to the occasion like we saw it on Wednesday. Crazy thought, but the sudden emergence of his countryman may just give him the motivation required to prove that it is him who is The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico afterall!

Moving onto the subject of today’s game, it will be interesting to see which Arsenal we will see, team selection and mentality wise for a set of reasons: we have played two big games in the space of the last week, lost points from winning position in both, Chelsea leapfrogged us in the table on goal difference and – wait for it – if we SERIOUSLY turn it up and significantly better our goal difference, the title is still almost (with the Chavs beating Yoonited 1:0) in our hands. Don’t believe me? Look at the table and do the maths.

...yes it is!

It does not take a genius to figure out that if we see the Arsenal flying out of the blocks, trying to score as many goals as possible to do just that will be a sign of that belief we hear so much about and it will also go great lengths towards making a roaring statement of intent to take the fight to Yoonited and Chavs, striking the doubt and fear in the hearts of their players and supporters alike. Seeing this would definitely make a few doubting Thomases, including the author, sit down, shut up and take notice. Now, the big question is, does a positive strategy like this even figure in the OGL’s Little Red Book? And more importantly, will the players respond to his rallying cry?

To make things even more interesting, there is another twist to this story: anything less than three points today and with Chelsea failing to get a result against Sp*ds we are running the risk of the very first ‘helicopter Sunday’ at our shiny new ground happening for all the wrong reasons. A win today does not only makes that purely mathematically impossible, but also changes the chopper’s earliest next departure time to the next week and the destination to the Old Toilet, where they can celebrate all they want after beating Chavs to clinch the title. I will not care one iota then. Or maybe I will.

Today is the day when people of certain religions celebrate the belief that their Lord and Saviour rose from the grave, while others just await for the gifts rom the Easter Bunny whether they believe in the former or not. As far as my religious beliefs (CoA) are concerned, the believers will tell you that today is the day when our season is resurrected, whereas the egg hunting infidels will say that all we are getting is a week’s stay of the execution with the horror of public hanging, drawing and quartering being replaced ex gratia (following the emotional plea of the Gooner groom’s brother on the Royal Wedding weekend) by the quiet affair with the use of that fancy French invention called guillotine. I say let’s look on the bright side of things either way, just because the worst case scenario does not bear thinking about, if for nothing else?

Come on Arsenal!

P.S. I have just realised that Yoonited can’t win the title at our place! YAY! But hey, let’s not allow the facts get in the way of good journalism, eh? Besides, the only thing that makes this theory null & void is the sudden emergence of Chelsea…

Valentine’s Day guff.

Morning all. I did not feel so hot yesterday after washing down the lager with Sambucca on Friday night, so I thought I’d give it a rest. Not that there was much to write about: I could obviously rant about being deprived of football on the weekend after we threw the FA Cup, but frankly there was no point crying over spilt milk and given our injury situation, we needed the game at the council house just before the trip to Porto like a hole in the head. Stoke went to Eastlands, earned a well deserved draw and a replay probably just ahead of February 27th when we play them at Britannia. This may give us a bit of advantage as far as our ‘perfect run’ targeted by the likes of Arshavin is concerned: recently, we went there twice and lost twice, so we may need something special to avoid The Potters being labelled our ‘bogey team’ the way Bolton under Fat Sam were.

Speaking of The Trotters: today they play our not-so-glorious neighbours in the cup and I am looking forward to seeing Jackie Boy weave his magic the way he did against City recently – it’s yet another ‘surplus’ Arsenal player earning plaudits from the manager and fans of the lucky club, here’s to hoping that he will make some of them Spuds look silly today!

With not a lot ot write about, hacks continue with all this ‘Cesc to Barca’ stories despite all the parties firmly denying it – call me cynical, but I reckon this time there is no smoke without fire and if we fail to get our hands on one of two remaining trophies and/or address some of our squad’s deficiencies, he will be seriously considering his options in the summer. Rumour has it that he is refusing to sign the improved deal – my money is on his signing when he sees some transfer activity, bearing in mind how RvP was promised additions that never materialised last year. Losing Cesc would be a massive blow, dare I say bigger than losing Henry, simply because of their respective age and fitness at the moment of leaving Arsenal. Another player with uncertain future is Billy G. – PHW said there was no request for ‘special dispensation’ from OGL as far as breaking the dreaded ‘one year policy’ is concerned, I reckon it should be given, hell, even ordered without asking for it: Gallas is one of the few players of real quality in our squad and he has proven to have massive impact, being a born winner and bringing lots of experience to the table. Two year deal would also make a bit more sense even if he was to leave next summer, as he would not leave on a free. Please Arsene, don’t go all Bobby on Billy…

Just to conclude, I wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day. Show your love!

Another one out, no signing in sight.

Unless a ‘super, super signing’ is to be unveiled tomorrow before the game to raise the roof, this transfer window is about to go begging. I was in two minds, whether the countdown picture to be used with this post was supposed to be a ‘2’ or a ‘1’, taking into the account tomorrow’s clash – eventually, I have decided to stick to the facts and perhaps naively believe that if we are really to get someone in, then our CEO will be working overtime to pull this through. Silly me 😆

Our teenage future midfield superstar, Jack Wilshere has just joined Bolton on loan until the end of the season – given that we are out of both domestic cup competitions, it is a very good move for everyone concerned:  barring some injury disaster of cataclysmic proportions, we certainly wouldn’t be able to allow Jack The Lad enough game time for him to develop into something in the mould of Joe Cole on crack, whereas Coyle is a long time admirer and should give him more chances – besides, Bolton looked enough of a footballing side in our recent games and they actually look like they are on good path to be cured from the nasty disease called fatsamitis. Mind you, there are enough bruisers in their squad to offer the little one enough protection for him to weave his magic, glimpses of which we have seen in the last season. Our mate, who is a famous Polish reggae singer (seriously, we have these! check this out) came to play a gig in London and it coincided with the FA Youth Cup Final at the Emirates – we took him to the game and he immediately singled him out, saying that the kid will be something absolutely special and couldn’t believe that he was only 17.  In the process, we are rumoured to have also managed to negotiate the right of first refusal if Trotters decide to sell Gary Cahill, who looks like a decent enough centre back, which makes the deal even better.

This should be the last of the players to leave the club this month – needless to say, it would not be too shabby if we saw someone coming in to cheer us up and show or rivals that we mean business to leave them quaking in their boots. After the long period of rumour drought, there is a little bit of a speculation about us signing Nice’s Loic Remy – I can only speak for myself, but I would be prepared to trust Grimandi’s judgment in that respect: our former defender reportedly said that he had ‘a physical standard that is outside the usual’ and given that our forward line is looking a bit iffy, we should pounce before anyone else does. What are we waiting for then? Where I come from, a wise saying goes that if no one knows what the issue is, then it must be the money – unsurprisingly, this is no different, as Our Glorious Leader is said to be refusing to meet their valuation. Whether it is just playing the hard ball, like we witnessed during Arshavin transfer saga or a simple, categorical ‘non’ remains to be seen. You wouldn’t think £13M for someone dubbed ‘the new Thierry Henry’ is over the top, would you? Our beloved neighbours are said to be negotiating with Pompey to bring back Kaboul to Shite Hart Lane for the price of £10M or so. I’m sure a player that comes that highly recommended is worth splashing out the extra few bob and Remy who bears such uncanny resemblance to rapper Xzibit could seriously pimp our attack. Then again, it’s not my call, is it?

Thank you for reading, hope you’ve enjoyed it. I will be back tomorrow with the United game preview – until then 😉

We are top of the league! Yeah, baby!

Now can anyone honestly tell me that he or she was thinking this was going to end up with this scoreline? We needed a win by two goals or better to go top – quite frankly, it did not look like we were anywhere near being capable of doing it for the entire first half. I watched in disbelief as Bolton looked like a decent football team and wondered how on earth has Coyle managed to set them up to play like that within such a short period of time. Really, when Alan Wiley blown the final whistle and ‘We are top of the league’ roar sounded around Emirates, one could be excused for breathing a sigh of relief.

We started looking slow and sloppy, making plenty of misplaced passes and allowing them into game. Someone said in the aftermath that it is quite a common occurence this season that we don’t really look up for it in the early minutes and brought up a statistic that we have managed to score just one goal during the first 15 minutes in the whole season so far – I really don’t know how accurate that is, but if this is the case then it must be addressed, as quality teams may not let us back into games that easily. With the ‘do-or-die’ string of fixtures on the horizon, this must be kept in mind, as Villa, United, Chelsea and Pool are a different proposition.

It took them just 6 minutes to score the first goal. It has to be said, our defending was comical and they took full advantage of their height to win a couple of aerial battles to set up Cahill for a volley to put it past Almunia. I thought it was not that bad, as it should give us a required kick in the arse to wake us up. Since then, we dominated possession for the long passages, but nothing was really coming out of it and I started thinking that it could be ‘one of those days’. Conceding second goal after referee pointed to the spot as a result of Denilson’s completely mistimed challenge in the box did not help either. 28 minutes, 2 goals down and no luck in front of Jaaskelainen’s goal – it has to be said, things were looking bleak. Don’t know about you, but I was fuming – we needed a goal before the break, we needed it badly and boy we got it! Denilson passed the ball forward to Cesc, who managed to chip the ball cleverly to Rosicky who blasted in an excellent goal, leaving poor ol’ Jussi rooted to the spot. Conceding a goal that reduced their advantage to just one in the dying minutes must have been a bit of a blow for them and one must pause and think about how much we missed Little Mozart in the last season.

If it wasn’t for our no.7’s cracker, Arsene would probably need to get into Le Hairdryer mode once again, but since we started looking a bit better and got within touching distance, the half time talk must have been a bit more balanced. Whatever AW said, it worked – we came out flying and finally looked like the team we all love to watch. The way things looked, there could be only one winner, the only question was if we would be able to score three to go top, since we made it difficult for ourselves in the first half an hour. The equaliser came on the 55th minute, courtesy of Cesc Fabregas – yes, Jaaskelainen should have done much better and much will be made of Billy’s tackle in the build up that left Mark Davies needing to be stretchered off, but guess what? I don’t care – creating space to shoot in such a crowded box is nothing short of brilliant, and we have been kicked by them many times with referees not doing zilch about it. Coyle went on about bad sportsmanship on our part, but hey, this is Bolton we are talking about, remember? Like I said in one of the earlier posts, karma is a bitch…

55th minute, we are level and the general feeling is that we should go for the throat – 35 minutes is more than enough to score two and go top, since the balance swung in our favour and we smelt blood. Ten minutes later, we got a third goal after they failed to clear it following our corner and the ball landed at Verminator’s feet for him to whack it home and end his mini goal drought. Now we needed just one more to raise The Home of Football’s roof. It took us exactly 20 minutes to get it – a brilliant move on the edge of the box resulted in Arshavin getting just enough space to fire this cracker into Trotters’ net. While the job was not done yet, it was pretty much all Arsenal and you just couldn’t see where the opposition goal would come from. Sure, they had their moments, but we looked much more composed and if anything, should have added to our tally, but our little Russian chose to be greedy instead of setting up Walcott to score with his first touch after being introduced in the place of Eduardo in 90th minute.

‘scuse me:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! 😆

Not bad, eh? Of course, there are a few things to worry about, like Diaby’s injury, which couldn’t have happened at worse moment, but hey, let us enjoy it while it lasts, and may it last as long as 9th of May 😉

Thank you for reading, I will be back tomorrow with some transfer window analysis…

Episode II: Attack of the Shitkickers

As soon as our game in hand got called off, we have all agreed that this would be the best time to play it – back to back games between the same teams don’t happen too often and there are some pros and cons of such arrangement. The upside of it may be the fresh memory of their recent antics, however, they may remember their shortcomings and do a lot to iron them out in training and make our life difficult. Then again, so can we…

Let us all hope that Mark Clattenburg had a long, close look at Sunday’s game video and won’t allow their players to ‘do their thing’, which is doing everything possible (usually illegal, mind you)  to disrupt our game and will do better than Phil Dowd in respect of seeing penalty incidents and the like. To be fair, I was quite happy with his performances so far this season and long it may continue. One to remember is the most recent NLD, where he let the game flow, played good advantages and was not too whistle-happy in general. If he shows them that he won’t tolerate their usual ‘tactic’ right from the off, we should have no problem with collecting all three points, as long as it’s the efficient and motivated Arsenal that turns up.

We may welcome a few players returning from injury, namely Clichy, Denilson and Walcott. This would boost our squad options if it wasn’t for other getting injured – it’s a shame that Nasri and Ramsey are out, as the former started showing glimpses of brilliance we would expect and the latter contributed to the few recent good results by looking lively and scoring good goals. I mean, what is it with our players and injuries? Yes, we have a brilliant squad of players, but we did not have all of them available for selection right from the start of the season, which may put a dent in our title hopes.  Again, I will say that we could do well with a few sturdy players who would scare the living daylights out of the bruisers with ‘Bolton DNA’. Le Boss said he would leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the problem, he may consider the above a free advice 😉

I think we will start with the usual back four, boosted by return of Clichy – we shall see whether his injury lay-off  gave him time to rest and recover to make him fresh or if he will need a couple of games to shake off the rust. His experience is invaluable and should stop their attacks coming from that side, which was exactly what we saw a lot in the Episode I, due to our left back being identified as a chink in our armor most likely to give in at some point.

In the middle, AW may choose to start with Denilson playing in the defensive midfield role, with Cesc and Diaby in more advanced roles. As I said before, this game should be perfect to get our second choice DM up to speed, as they should not concentrate too much on attacking, playing away from home against the top team. However, it may be quite interesting to see if Coyle chooses to stick to his footballing principles and tells his team to play the ‘all or nothing’ game rather than park the bus and try to hit us on the break. I reckon Denilson will be identified as the weak point and targeted, which will make our other two midfielders concentrate on dirty work instead of going forward and creating chances.

I am guessing we will see the front three of Arshavin, Eduardo and Walcott. If the latter is not fit enough to start, I would say it will be Rosicky on the right – frankly, I would prefer that option, as Theo’s pace will be useless if they choose to put 10 men behind the ball and I would rather save him from kicking which will inevitably be dished out. Given that his fitness may not necessarily be 100%. I’d say our FA Cup game against Stoke would be the better time to re-introduce him to the first team, but maybe that’s just me.

I am looking forward to this – a win will put us in the top spot for a moment, and we may as well stay there if Chelsea drop all three points in their next league game against the high-flying Brum. Hmmmmm…

Thanks for reading, Come on you mighty Reds!!!

I’m back ;)

Apologies for not writing for the last few days, but I went away for a short break to Poland and I could not get anywhere near a computer – too busy meeting people I deeply care about and like to spend time and have a drink with. Four days is barely enough to see them all!

I didn’t get to watch the first game of  Bolton Shitkickers double header, as I was on the way to the airport when it was on – looking forward to someone introducing some popular in-car broadband capable of handling a stream or at least BBC Radio – arrived at the airport in time to check the livescore.com website to see that we were a comfortable 2 goals to the good.  The score didn’t tell the whole story, which I only got to find out later that night when I tuned in to watch the game on ATVO.  It has to be said that Coyle did quite well to get them to play some football, but did not eradicate the dirty approach we have seen over all these years – Cesc is being referred to by some as ‘having Barcelona DNA’, this lot must have something one would call ‘Bolton DNA’, which makes them resort to their usual kicking the lumps out of our players. Questions must be asked about the referee’s approach – two penalties waved away and no reaction to the case of violent conduct, which was as clear as it gets: how do you get away with trying to get someone on his feet by pulling his hair? I mean, come on ref…

We had a few scares, like Klasnic putting the ball in the net in the first few minutes – luckily, he was just offside and the score stayed level until the 28th minute, when Eduardo managed to set up Captain Fantastic with a clever backheel for his well taken goal. All about placement, just enough power to put it past Jaaskelainen.  The remaining first half minutes produced a few shots on both goals and a couple of bookings, one for each team.

In the second half, Bolton were really up for it right from the off – quite frankly, if I didn’t knew the final score, I’d say we would be lucky to get away with all three points back then. However, we managed to score the crucial second goal in the 78th minute, courtesy of the 63rd minute sub Fran Merida who controlled Eduardo’s cross and lashed it into the far bottom corner. I have to say, the scoreline flattered us a little bit and if they had more clinical strikers, things could have been different, but a result and three points gained away from home are not to be sniffed at. Here’s to hoping that we will do better in th ‘second leg’. More on that tomorrow.

I have to say, I was quite impressed with our young defensive midfielder, Craig Eastmond: no-nonsense play, a bit rough on the edges, but I reckon he may be a better option against teams like Bolton than Denilson who failed to impress in his last outing despite scoring a goal. AW said he was not yet ready, but I think it was more about Denilson returning to fitness than anything else. On the subject of our injured players returning, one has to smile about the return of Clichy – Traore looked shaky and was clearly targeted by their players, being identified as a weak link. It is really strange, given the decent run of games he had – may have something to do with our first choice left back returning to fitness and inevitable return to the subs’ bench, bar occasional cup game.

Thank you for reading, I will be back tomorrow with my thoughts on the sequel 😉

Big chill puts the Bolton game back in hand.

Well, that was a bit disappointing, wasn’t it?  Late in the day the club announced:

Despite making every effort to stage tonight’s match against Bolton Wanderers, the sudden and unpredicted adverse change in weather conditions in the Highbury area has left us no choice but to postpone the fixture.

Funny that, it was our game in hand afterall. When we will get to play this one is anybody’s guess, given the fixture congestion. I reckon sticking it on either side of the reverse fixture to make it a back to back affair would not be such a bad idea, but we shall see. Official website posted a picture special showing quite scary images, but these who are ATVO subscribers could see the pitch looking perfect and ready as ever. I could rant about the health and safety brigade and would be at it until tomorrow, but it’s an Arsenal blog in the end. Looking on the bright side, it should give our players some rest much needed to take on Toffees on Saturday, as they have a big point to prove after the 6:1 thumping dished out on the opening day of the season.  More on that on Saturday.

Since we have no game to review, let’s move on to the subject of transfer rumours – AW reportedly said he was considering whether to plunge into the market or not, depending on B52’s fitness test. Quite frankly, one needs to take this quote with a pinch of salt, as I just can’t see how we could continue to challenge on all three fronts with just two nominal strikers at our disposal: not replacing Adebayor was a gamble, not replacing The Boy Wonder would be a suicide. As far as I am concerned, this is just usual smoke and mirrors tactic, and I hope he will get busy next week when we will be without any football to talk about for about eight days, barring yesterday’s game being rescheduled for next Wednesday. A signing oughta cheer us poor souls up 😉

According to some sources, we are in for 19 years old CFR Cluj’s Ivorian striker Lacina Traore. Dubbed ‘The new Adebayor’ (hopefully, it’s a reference to Ade of 07/08 season, not the ‘superstar’ of 08/09), he looks quite a prospect and his club value him at reasonable four million euros – mind you, we have just shelled out more or less the same amount on some Brazillian kid we won’t see for some time. I will be watching the progress of this one with some interest. He could bring some much needed presence upfront

Another possible addition is West Ham’s Carlton Cole. Probably more of a ready made product with quite a bit of domestic experience and not cup-tied in Europe, however, his injury record is a bit of a worry and it may put off potential suitors. Zola said he was slightly short of full fitness, but I would rather look somewhere else to be honest. I might have mentioned it before, but there is a player currently scoring for fun in Brazil who is keen to get into Dunga’s good book before World Cup – Adriano would be a good short term option if AW somehow managed to keep him straight. ‘My way or the highway’ type of gentlemen’s agreement would probably do the trick, if you ask me…

Thank you for reading, ’til tomorrow 😉

Bolton preview. No more what ifs.

Big chill allowing, we will take on Owen Coyle’s Trotters tonight. They used to cause us a problem or two under Fat Sam by successfully employing in-your-face bully boy tactics, hence the cliche about Arsenal being a bunch of softies who don’t like a cold wintery night up north often uttered by TV pundits and tabloid hacks. Since Megson tried to get his team to play a bit more football than his inglorious predecessor (if you don’t count the short episode involving Little Sammy Lee who tried to continue with his mentor’s approach, that is), it transcribed into much better results from our point of view.

Coyle got Burnley to play some nice football, which brought us quite a few famous cup upsets, including our 2:0 loss on their turf last season, as well as quite a home record in this season’s Premier League campaign. Whether he will have enough time to transform Bolton thugs into a footballing side in the space of a few days since taking over is another matter – I wouldn’t have too many complaints if that happened, given that we normally murder ‘lesser’ sides who come to Emirates to play rather than park the bus and frustrate. Whichever of the two materialises, we need to be on our toes not to fall victims to the side keen to impress new manager in the stern test of playing a top side. This is the often mentioned game in hand, our chance to go second with Chelsea only two points clear at the top and short of options with a good few vital cogs away for the ACN and Anelka sidelined with an injury. This is it. No more ‘if we win our game in hand’ speculations. Time to stand up and be counted, show what we are made of. As I said before, we need to gather maximum points in January before we enter the do-or-die period starting with the Aston Villa away game on 27th. Whisper it, but if we survive these tough two weeks afterwards and come out within reasonable distance off the top spot or ideally being there, the title will be ours to lose with relatively easy run-in.

As far as our squad options are concerned, not a lot changed bar Arshavin and Denilson returning from injuries. I will be watching the latter to see how he will cope in position made his own by Alex Song. I reckon this should be telling for Arsene, as far as the decision on whether to strengthen in this particular area or not is concerned. To be honest with you, I have my doubts, as I see him as more of an attack-minded player who is told to do things not particularly being his forte, however, nothing would please me more than him making me help myself to a huge slice of humble pie.

With Cesc still out, I think gaffer will throw Diaby and Ramsey or Nasri to partner No.15 in the midfield.  Upfront, we should see Andrey with Eduardo and perhaps Vela if Nasri starts in the middle. Not a lot to speculate, is there? AW has very little room for manoeuvre and him sitting on his hands during the games must have the purpose of covering the crossed fingers – back four also picks itself, so possible fatigue must be quite a worry, given the merciless fixture list. Here’s to hoping that our ‘new signing’ will shake off the most recent niggle and report fit for the Saturday’s clash with Everton to give one of players a well deserved breather.

Speaking of signings, again, there is hardly anything to report apart from us reportedly being after another Cardiff City player, 17 year old right fullback Andrew Matthews. Whilst cherry-picking the most talented youngsters to teach them to play the Arsenal way is commendable (unless they decide to join another club after getting fed up with lack of playing time caused by embarrassment of riches, just like Merida), our senior squad is threadbare and it needs urgent attention. During his press conference yesterday, Arsene confirmed that he would like to do his business early in this window, but wouldn’t give us anything else, just said there was more press talk than actual movement. He also said something about players returning from long term injuries, let’s hope he is not in the gambling mood and will bring in at least two players to boost our options to make the assault on all three fronts.

Once again, Come You Rip Roaring Gunners! Thanks for reading, enjoy the game 😉