One-nil to the Arsenal Topic

Bandwagon jumper alert!!! Alan Hansen, who tipped Arsenal to tumble out of the Big Four in the pre-season, lauds Arsene Wenger for giving the Gunners a little backbone. Wow. Hansen returns to being Fergie’s lickspittle later in the column, probably out of habit more than anything else, but, hey, it just goes to show even a MOTD pundit can learn a new trick.

David Pleat highlights how Arsenal’s fluidity and Tottenham’s slack defending conspired to make Robbie Keane eat his ill-advised words.

What’s interesting in the post-mortems about the derby are the deserved plaudits for both Robin van Persie and Alex Song, both of whom had stormers. Which isn’t that surprising given they have been consistently excellent this season. RvP never pops up on any list of best strikers, which generally go along the lines of Torres, Rooney, Drogba and Adebayor, but have a look at his goals to games ratio. It’s up there with all of them. Plus he sets up almost as many as he scores. Song has continued to impress and his timely intervention in the penalty area snuffed out Keane’s one opportunity to make an impression on derby day.

11/2/2009 11:24 AM
arsenal has their us website up and they also have a nice app for your iphone or touch.

http://www.arsenalfc.us/
11/4/2009 8:08 PM
This is actually Arsenal's USA website http://www.arsenal.com/usa

The one you referenced is for a prominent youth club in Southern California. Don't believe there is any "official" relationship with Arsenal FC
11/5/2009 2:00 AM
Arsenal cantered home to an easy win in the west Midlands today, with neither the downpour or the loud home support at Molineaux seeming to distract them.

The Gunners took a thoroughly undeserved 3-0 lead at the half. Wolves really could have gone on top after a promising start before Zubar's own goal gave Arsenal the lead against the run of play.

That mistake seem to rattle Wolves and they unravelled quickly. Wolves began to press forward and were caught out when Eduardo's chip careened off Craddock. The third goal, though, was a beauty with Fabregas slotting home after some slick interplay between RvP, Sagna and himself.

McCarthy put his hand in front of the camera as he walked down the tunnel.

L'Arse never seemed to get out of second gear in the final 45 minutes, but credit to Wolves for staying compact. They thoroughly deserved their consolation, but losing the clean sheet -- particularly from a set piece -- will enrage Wenger.

A couple of notes. Former Spurs player Gary O'Reilly, who was the colour man for Setanta, made an interesting point about Arsenal's squad depth when Diaby hobbled off. Wenger brought on Song but both Nasri and Rosicky were also on the bench. Even with a long injury list, Wenger has some options in the middle of the park. Losing Vermalen, Gallas or Song, though, could really hurt our title chances.
11/7/2009 4:25 PM
Almunia needs to go, now dammit
1/31/2010 10:36 AM
Agreed. It all started unravelling after the OG. Badly missed van Persie today, too as we were incredibly wasteful. Again. It looks like another trophyless season.
1/31/2010 11:53 AM
Rooney's goal was all about what Arsenal is not - just a hard straight long run up the middle, strong, powerful, finishing

again, too much passing, not enough shooting, against the better teams
1/31/2010 11:57 AM
We got the result today but it wasn't easy sledding. Fabregas looks like his passing radar needs some re-tuning. Nice goal by Diaby -- some of that direct football that you were talking about, Rob.
2/10/2010 4:17 PM
Well, that was easily the best game that Manuel Almunia has ever had with Arsenal. Fabianski clearly isn’t ready. Wenger seems determined to try to win both the league and Europe playing essentially with 10 men (nine, really, if you count the utterly anonymous Denilson).

Wenger will, I’m quite sure, bemoan the penalty decision that wasn’t given on Rosicky and then the quick kick for Porto’s call (which was entirely within the rules), but Arsenal’s wounds were self-inflicted in this match. The first goal was appalling and the sequence of events on the second goal — Fabianski’s brain cramp and the utter disorganization and sleepy-headedness that allowed Falcao’s simple tap-in — would be embarrassing for a u-12 team. Unacceptable and utterly inexcusable at that level, let alone a team mooted to be a “European heavyweight.” And these kinds of errors are, sadly, all too common this season for Arsenal and the apologies/excuses/evasions are getting a wee bit tiresome.
2/17/2010 3:55 PM
couldn't agree with you more
2/17/2010 7:38 PM
are you wegners speech writer? basically you said everything he did.

fabianski was sad today.
2/17/2010 8:29 PM
Quote: Originally posted by lebronfeldt on 2/17/2010are you wegners speech writer?  basically you said everything he did.fabianski was sad today.

I've supported the club for a long time and heard all the excuses and justifications. I'm normally a part of the "Arsene Knows" camp, but the keeping this year has been just appalling. I can only imagine what Rob Tracy -- a former keeper -- would have said after both goals. I probably couldn't repeat on the forums because I'd get banned.

I understand the importance of protecting young players in the postmortems but there will be fans who've patiently waited for silverware for five years who are going to start getting put off by the "potential" argument, especially with a reported 35 million quid in a kitty available to Wenger. And based on what I've seen this year, our keeping has not been good enough if we are going to challenge for titles. And I'm not sold on Sol Campbell or Mikael Silvestre as defensive cover, either. If either Gallas or Vermaelen sustain a serious injury, we can forget about the league, too.
2/17/2010 8:53 PM
A few random thoughts on Arsenal’s nervy win over Sunderland.

I made the unfortunate decision to leave the volume up on the television and was punished with Lou Macari’s moaning throughout the match. The former United man seems to loathe his job at Setanta and managed to balls it up royally by naming Cesc Fabregas as MOTM. Wrong again, sunshine, that would be Emmanuel Eboue, whose surges forward constantly and sizzling crosses into the ball unsettled Sunderland’s back line and set up Nicklas Bendnter’s tap in.

Fabregas showed some nice touches and vision in the middle of park, but these were generally wasted by finding Theo Walcott in space only for the winger to shank the ball back to Sunderland with his first touch or balloon his final ball well beyond the nonexistent Arsenal attackers in the box. While his pace petrified George McCartney, his end product never really troubled Craig Gordon.

Even Wenger appeared unnerved as his side fannied about in the midfield, hogging possession but not producing much remotely in the way of danger until after the hour mark, when the home side began to up the tempo.

Wenger’s subs eventually converted a chance in the form of a dodgy penalty — it was clearly a foul but probably just outside the result. The assistant was brave enough to make the call that Steve Bennett passed on and was in keeping with one of the worst performances by a match official I’ve seen in the English top flight in a good long time.

How Lorik Cana did not see a red card for his studs-up lunge to catch Eboue is beyond me. Bennett also chose to ignore a clear foul in the D on Bendnter by Mensah before inexplicably awarding a free kick to Sunderland in the closing minutes after Vermaelen lost his footing and had a Sunderland attacker fall over him. Just pathetic. Thankfully, justice was done in that case and the kick sailed into the wall.

All in all, not a terribly convincing performance and the Gunners will have to step up their game considerably in order to get all three points at Stoke. We better hope that William Gallas is fit enough to return because I cringe at the thought of Silvestre in the heart of the Arsenal back line. On the other hand, Arsenal won without playing well, which is a whole lot better than playing well and losing so I suppose that’s progress of a sort.
2/21/2010 10:38 AM
FYI, that was the Henry ref in the Porto game

never seen anything like that quick kick - within the rules sure - but who does it so clearly to give a team a huge advantage

i broke a lamp on the first goal - and walked out after the 2nd - not good



i did not see the Sunderland game - but i saw the Man United-Everton game - Donovan was again very good - some great setup passes throughout the game - clearly he shines when he has teammates that know what to do with what he gives them - he works greatly with Pienaar - they must feel a kinship given they are the only gifted players on their respective national teams!
2/21/2010 12:28 PM
i read that Van Persie the Great will be back in April
2/21/2010 12:32 PM
◂ Prev 1...8|9|10|11|12...14 Next ▸
One-nil to the Arsenal Topic

Search Criteria

Terms of Use Customer Support Privacy Statement

© 1999-2026 WhatIfSports.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WhatIfSports is a trademark of WhatIfSports.com, Inc. SimLeague, SimMatchup and iSimNow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts, Inc. Used under license. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.