Arsenal FC 2009/2010

[delfino_1936]

rvp just equalised with a quality finish in the 92nd vs everton

how fucken good is he. we don't even look threatening then BANG! one hit on his gifted left boot and we are all square. He really is a superstar and i've always said one of the best strikers in the EPL easily.

[Judge Judy]

rvp just equalised with a quality finish in the 92nd vs everton

how shiraz good is he. we don't even look threatening then BANG! one hit on his gifted left boot and we are all square. He really is a superstar and i've always said one of the best strikers in the EPL easily.

that's why i think with players like him, another creative spark is so far from what arsenal require!

[delfino_1936]

rvp just equalised with a quality finish in the 92nd vs everton

how shiraz good is he. we don't even look threatening then BANG! one hit on his gifted left boot and we are all square. He really is a superstar and i've always said one of the best strikers in the EPL easily.

that's why i think with players like him, another creative spark is so far from what arsenal require!

but i think if we had Arshavin trying to pull some strings today, he could've created something.

Denilson, Diaby and Song were just terrible in picking a pass tonight (so was the whole team) and with them 'TRYING' to control the midfield, we barely threatened. Nasri gets taken out of the game too much out wide which doesn't allow him to create as much either.


I think Wenger's subsitute's were ok apart from the Sagna off one...Bring Eboue on for Denilson, leave Sagna as RB and Eboue as RM, give's us defensive strength and power up the wing in attack imo

[bradley]

Cant believe we let that slip. We had so many chances in injury time to hold onto the ball and kill clock and instead it was as if we were trying to score again

Smashing goal by RVP...what a gun.

[delfino_1936]

Cant believe we let that slip. We had so many chances in injury time to hold onto the ball and kill clock and instead it was as if we were trying to score again

Smashing goal by RVP...what a gun.

was fortunate for us but i thought the draw was a fair result. was such a midfield battle. How good is he though seriously, every set piece looks dangerous, every touch in front of goal he looks dangerous. he's a star

[haywood djablowme]

rvp just equalised with a quality finish in the 92nd vs everton

how shiraz good is he. we don't even look threatening then BANG! one hit on his gifted left boot and we are all square. He really is a superstar and i've always said one of the best strikers in the EPL easily.

Another cracker from RVP
i'll back ya there mate cause ive been saying it for along time too. My mate was in Holland the day Arsenal signed him & he came back raving about him & about the hype coming out of Holland at the time. He is finally having an injury free year & showing what he is capable of

pity we cant say it about the rest of the squad..

we need Arashvin this morning was another prime example we lack a creative player in the team without Cesc, Rosicky, Walcott & co

ohh yeah & we should of got 30mil for Ade while we had the chance

[delfino_1936]

ohh yeah & we should of got 30mil for Ade while we had the chance

he was brilliant last year and has been good at times this year but you can see how bad he is on his shite days

[delfino_1936]

'To keep our unbeaten run going is vital'

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On the performance…
"I believe it was a game of quality with two teams who gave absolutely everything. We were playing against a good side and needed to show a lot of character to come back. I knew we wouldn't give up and keep fighting until the last second, but you couldn't predict that we would score in injury time. I knew we would give everything. There is a lot of character in the team and we showed that again tonight."

On avoiding defeat …
"It was very important not to lose, and to keep our run going is vital. It was a game where i felt we went one-nil down at a time we didn't expect to. We didn't give many chances away and had to gamble much more when you are one-nil down. We had to go more upfront but I am very happy with our defensive performance for 99 per cent of the game."

On Robin van Persie's rich vein of form …
"It was an exceptional finish, and when you see him on his left leg like that you always think if it doesn't hit the keeper it will be a goal."

On losing ground on teams above them…
"A point is never enough because we always play for three, but it was a difficult tonight and I maintain what I said yesterday; for me Everton is as much a threat for us as Aston Villa. Everton a good side."

On Everton's goalscorer …
"Cahill is a fantastic player, tactically very good and also very intelligent. You look at all the defenders in the league and they are a head above him, but he always pops up with a header. He has something you cannot give to everybody - he knows where to be on the football pitch."

On Andrei Ashavin…
"There is nothing new, because today I have been focussed on the game, and I did not pick up any phone calls so nothing has happened. It was 90 per cent that I will be able to give you more in the next two days. Remember in this job the other 10 per cent can be more important than the other 90 because people can change their mind quickly"

[delfino_1936]

Eduardo named in 22-man Croatia squad

Eduardo has been named in the Croatia squad for their friendly against Romania on February 11.

The Brazil-born striker completed 90 minutes for the reserves in their 2-2 draw with Stoke last week and the clash with the Romanians could provide him with further meaningful minutes as he continues his journey back to the first team.

Eduardo joins other Premier League stars Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth), Luka Modric and Vedran Corluka (both Tottenham) in Slaven Bilic’s 22-man squad squad.

He came to us when Henry went, Eddie, Eddie,
He scored more goals than Darren Bent, Eddie, Eddie,
He broke his leg,
But he'll be back,
and Darren Bent will still be cack,
Eduardo Silva Arsenal's Number 9!!

la,la,la,la,la,la,la...

good lad

[delfino_1936]

ROSICKY CLOSING IN ON COMEBACK
Posted 28/01/09 14:56
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Arsenal 13/10, Everton 21/10, Draw 9/4

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has declared midfielder Tomas Rosicky could be back in first-team action within eight weeks.

The Czech Republic international has been sidelined for just over a year after injuring his hamstring against Newcastle in January 2008.

It is not the first time the French boss has predicted a comeback for the 28-year-old with a return pencilled in for last September and when that failed to materialise Christmas was then mentioned.

It is believed that the continuous delays on a return date are put down to the former Dortmund ace contracting an injury which is slow to heal with his hamstring tendon inflaming every time he undergoes strenuous exercise.

Rosicky had routine surgery in November and continued his rehabilitation in Germany, but now Wenger is confident the end to his injury nightmare is in sight.

"If all goes well (he'll be back) in eight weeks," he told the club's official website.

"But that assumes he survives as we increase the intensity of training. So far Tomas has been exceptional frankly.

"Exceptionally strong, exceptionally patient, exceptionally resilient.

"The most difficult thing in sport is when you have an injury and you try to practice very hard to come back and it doesn't work so you have to rest and start again. That's the most difficult thing."

SUPER, SUPER TOM
SUPER, SUPER TOM
SUPER, SUPER TOM
SUPER TOMAS ROSICKY

[Judge Judy]

He came to us when Henry went, Eddie, Eddie,
He scored more goals than Darren Bent, Eddie, Eddie,
He broke his leg,
But he'll be back,
and Darren Bent will still be cack,
Eduardo Silva Arsenal's Number 9!!

la,la,la,la,la,la,la...

are you a-league in diguise? are you a-league in disguise, are you a-league, are you a-league, are you a-league in disguise?

[delfino_1936]

He came to us when Henry went, Eddie, Eddie,
He scored more goals than Darren Bent, Eddie, Eddie,
He broke his leg,
But he'll be back,
and Darren Bent will still be cack,
Eduardo Silva Arsenal's Number 9!!

la,la,la,la,la,la,la...

are you a-league in diguise? are you a-league in disguise, are you a-league, are you a-league, are you a-league in disguise?

i know that's the problem with it, it's just a copy of your song, that's why when i hear it i'm like

Boro, Sunderland and a few other teams have a couple of versions of it as well

[Judge Judy]

could've at least done it with a player with a different number

[delfino_1936]

could've at least done it with a player with a different number

there's a Nasri version but it's fucken shit

haha the sunderland one about Cisse just goes "Djibril Cisse, Sunderland's no.9" lalalalalalala

then they repeat it, with no words 's

[Judge Judy]

haha the sunderland one about Cisse just goes "Djibril Cisse, Sunderland's no.9" lalalalalalala

then they repeat it, with no words 's

gold

[haywood djablowme]

ohh yeah & we should of got 30mil for Ade while we had the chance

he was brilliant last year and has been good at times this year but you can see how bad he is on his shite days

couldnt agree more its just ive watched every game & he has shown not a glimpse of last years form IMO, were lucky RVP has been carrying us. Imagine he was banging em away like RVP has so far
i know we wouldnt be 5 points off 4th

cant wait to get Eddie up front with RVP

[pires7]

Are we really going to sell Toure for 15million pounds to Citeh?

[haywood djablowme]

Are we really going to sell Toure for 15million pounds to Citeh?

i hope not but would have to consider it if M.Richards was used as bait in the deal

[delfino_1936]

'I feel the attitude of the team was right'

On the overall performance of his side…
“We gave everything for 90 minutes and I believe we restricted them to nothing. We had 70 per cent of the possession but we have produced a great defensive team display, showed great desire until the last minute but they defended very well.

“We lacked some creativity in the final third, the final pass and from some set pieces. They were very strong in defence I must say with James Collins and Matthew Upson and that’s why we couldn’t score.

“I can’t fault the spirit but I believe as well that we lost a bit of sharpness from playing on Sunday at Cardiff, on Wednesday a very physical game at Everton and maybe that was why we lacked a bit of sharpness to score.”

On the pairing of William Gallas and Kolo Toure in defence…
“It can happen. We rotate it and we have to because we play Tuesday night and I might play [Johan] Djourou again. I am very happy with him as well. It depends on who we play against as well and I’m happy with our defensive unit, their performances and my central defenders especially today.”

On the injuries to Emmanuel Eboue and Abou Diaby…
“Diaby looks quite serious but he got a yellow card today that rules him out of the Tottenham game, for Tuesday night he is injured anyway. He got a big knock on his thigh, he had one in the first half and another one in the second half. Eboue is the same.”

On the decision to leave Robin van Persie on the bench…
“[the thinking was] Not to get him injured. We have to be cautious with him because we have played three games in six days and he played absolutely every minute. He had some bad experiences when we pushed it a little bit too far playing on Sunday and Wednesday.”

On the fans’ frustration…
“I can understand. I know the fans want to win all the games and I accept that maybe the fans aren’t happy. It was a London derby if you imagine that they are 10 points ahead in the championship and we draw 0-0, nobody would’ve found this game absolutely scandalous. I feel the attitude of the team was right we cannot question the commitment. We have to give credit to West Ham as well, they defended very well; they came to defend and defend and defend and they did that.

“I am not frustrated because I believe the good thing about the game is that any problem the opponents gives to you, you can use that as a way to improve and find a solution. Today we couldn’t but I believe it can make us better if we can find a chance to open defences up and punish the team who defend like this.”

On the ongoing Andrei Arshavin saga…
“[Will something happen?] Maybe or maybe not but it doesn’t worry me too much I must say. Don’t forget that we have some other players that can unlock defences like [Cesc] Fabregas, like [Theo] Walcott and like [Tomas] Rosicky who aren’t available at the moment but could be in the next few months.

“We are not far away but now we have a bit of time now the game is over until Tuesday night. Monday night is the deadline so we’ll see what can be done in 24 hours. With the experience I have, anything can happen in a transfer.”

[adriano10]

I thought West Ham played much like Stoke in the 2nd half of the Man City game... were content to sit back, grind out and break down the opposition attack...

Zola seemed confident in his side to do so and it worked...i thought West Ham were brilliant in the way they were confident enough to hold on to and play the ball from deep in defence...

the biggest positive for Arsenal out of this one is that Aston Villa were held at home (credit to Wigan, they're a decent side) and they've managed to avoid losing further ground...if Villa had won, the gap would be out to 7 points! that would've/could still be massive

[delfino_1936]

I thought West Ham played much like Stoke in the 2nd half of the Man City game... were content to sit back, grind out and break down the opposition attack...

Zola seemed confident in his side to do so and it worked...i thought West Ham were brilliant in the way they were confident enough to hold on to and play the ball from deep in defence...

the biggest positive for Arsenal out of this one is that Aston Villa were held at home (credit to Wigan, they're a decent side) and they've managed to avoid losing further ground...if Villa had won, the gap would be out to 7 points! that would've/could still be massive

you're right in what you've said. They did play the ball well around to each other very well and sharply on the deck

[haywood djablowme]

on last nights performance we should of never sold M Upson. He kept Ade in his back pocket

Credit to him wont be long till West Ham will be forced to let him go to a bigger club

[unitedwestand]

Nasri played the best IMO, so much play, many good runs, and alot of good balls in. Forwards couldnt do anything with it. Should of started RVP, bentner wasnt the right choice. We needed to capitalise on this game would have brought us within a game of villa.

[Tony Adams]

Nasri played the best IMO, so much play, many good runs, and alot of good balls in. Forwards couldnt do anything with it. Should of started RVP, bentner wasnt the right choice. We needed to capitalise on this game would have brought us within a game of villa.

yeah i agree nasri did a good job. bendtner is a really poor passer and has extremely heavy touches. i thought vela looked alright, just need more game time to get6 use to the physicallity of the league

[Jimmy]

Why Arsenal Will Prove The Critics Wrong

Much criticism has been levelled at Arsene Wenger’s young side this season. Owen Watson argues that a great deal of this has been unfair and backs the Frenchman’s team to come good by the end of the campaign...

There has been a great deal said and written about Arsene Wenger’s footballing philosophy and the way he approaches the game, on and off the pitch. Admirably, the Frenchman prefers to nurture young talent through the club’s youth system rather than spending lavishly on players that are deemed ‘the finished article’.

Financial Situation

Many have sniped at Wenger for his inability to ‘splash the cash’ but, in truth, the canny 59 year-old should be lauded for his frugal approach to the club’s finances.

There are signs that the Russian Revolution at Chelsea has started to come undone. Roman Abramovich has always maintained that he wants a return on his investment in the West London outfit and, should he elected to leave, Chelsea would find themselves in all kinds of problems. They have a team full of ageing stars and, although they have a couple of decent youth prospects, they are nowhere near the calibre of Arsenal’s starlets. Even if nightmare scenario does not come to fruition at Stamford Bridge, can it really be said that Chelsea will be challenging for the Premier League title in three to five years time with their current squad?

There are mixed opinion as to whether building the Emirates Stadium has provided financial constraints on Wenger in the transfer market. I find this hard to believe; when budgeting for this scenario the board will have included money for transfers and Wenger has removed many of the high-earners from the wage bill.

True, Emmanuel Adebayor was appeased with a contract his current form doesn’t justify but Gilberto, Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini have all left the club. In terms of transfers, Wenger’s net spending has been around £5 million as the money from selling Hleb was used to finance the Samir Nasri deal.

The result of this is that Arsenal can comfortably afford to push through a deal for a certain Russian playmaker later this week, and possibly even push the boat out on an unknown entity to anchor the midfield. This would be uncharacteristic of the tight-fisted Wenger, but the fresh influence of Ivan Gazidis may see Arsenal being a touch less cautious.

The advantage of buying now not only improves the chances of salvaging the season, it increases the optimism on the terraces and, most significantly, it gives the new players half a season to bed in. This means that when the next campaign starts the new acquisitions won’t have to get up to speed – a flying start in the new season is worth paying a slight premium for now.

Wenger clearly understands the situation and may feel under no pressure to make hurried purchases. Liverpool spent £20m on Robbie Keane, who has generally disappointed, and, in the past, Manchester United seemed to be able to spend £15m on substitutes and £30m on first-teamers .This outrageous spending can’t last forever - and whatever happened to Kleberson?.

At a time where politicians are maligning bankers and telling the public that we have taken out too many loans, the idea that the ‘spend, spend, spend’ binge of the top Premier League clubs won’t come back to bite them is naïve, and economics graduate Wenger knows this very well.

People Problems

There is undeniably an issue with the depth of the Arsenal first team squad. Wenger has alluded to the conundrum he faces in that if he has too much experience then it means his younger players don’t get the game time they need to develop – Cesc Fabregas is a prime example of this and Theo Walcott isn’t a bad one either.

Wenger had the opportunity to poach Xabi Alonso from rivals Liverpool in the summer but decided against it. Now Liverpool are top of the league while Arsenal are largely struggling due to their lack of midfield cover.

To add insult to injury, Liverpool have struggled to muster any kind of creative force when Alonso doesn’t play. It is notable that Liverpool have performed woefully against Stoke recently without the Spaniard, and they didn’t look anywhere near as dangerous against Preston North End when Alonso failed to emerge for the second half.

Completing the deal would have provided the perfect opportunity to critically weaken a rival whilst addressing the need for a deep-lying counterpart to partner Fabregas.

It’s not so much that Arsenal lack a defensive midfielder - Alex Song has done relatively well in the big games against ‘top four’ opposition and Arsenal have collected an impressive amount of points from their 'title rivals' - rather, when playing against the lesser sides his presence isn’t required.

Denilson has shown promise this season but still should be considered deputy to Fabregas rather than a midfield partner, though at full strength the team could carry him to ensure his development.

Personnel is an issue, but not as great a problem that is often made out. Nasri has shown he is able to deputise in the centre and, if Wenger can sign a creative player to play on the flank, or possibly go with the emerging Carlos Vela on the left, then Arsenal could still land in reasonable distance of the top – if not realistically challenging.

Walcott and Eduardo will come back into contention very soon; this should provide the side with additional attacking verve. A rampaging Russian or a central midfielder would be a welcome addition, but they are not essential to the cause.

Style of play

And all this before we really get onto the pitch! It seems a lot of commentators don’t really watch Arsenal as the criticism has consistently taken the form, ’they play nice football, but they aren’t strong enough’. However, if you have actually watched Arsenal consistently this season, you will see that they really have not produced the kind of dynamic and attacking football that they played last season.

They have at times strung together some stunning moves but watching the highlights masks over the real problem and that is the team have too often looked short of ideas.

Although this is concerning it is to be expected; young footballers are generally more inconsistent than seasoned professionals. The key for this Arsenal side in determining how many future honours they claim is the extent to which they can learn from their mistakes and resolve them.

There are signs that this is happening and the mainstream media have failed to pick up on it. For instance, when Liverpool or Aston Villa don’t perform particularly well but manage to pick up the victory, it is a quality to be admired - they ‘ground out the result’ and, especially in the case of Liverpool, ‘this is evidence they will make a title challenge’.

When Arsenal don’t play very well but beat Bolton 1-0 at home, a fixture they have traditionally had many problems in winning, it is a sign of even more concern! If you look to the early part of the season that is the type of game the Gunners would not have take three points away from. This is something that should be seriously noted by those that love to criticise Arsenal.

In the End

When they are at their best Arsenal can dominate teams and tear them apart - even with their second string - and now the side is finally starting to learn how to win in trying circumstances. With possible January reinforcements allied to Eduardo and Walcott coming back into the side, Arsenal should be flying at the business end of the season.

Too many people wrote Arsenal off at the start of last season following Henry’s departure and too many people are writing Arsenal off now. It remains to be seen if Arsenal are too far off the pace to challenge for the league title - they probably are - but talk of Aston Villa finishing fourth is premature. At the time of writing Arsenal are six points off the leaders; I would back them to be closer than that by the time the campaign comes to a close.

Owen Watson, Goal.com

[Tony Adams]

GUNNERS GET THEIR MAN
Arshavin transfer finally gets the go ahead

The Premier League have confirmed Andrei Arshavin is an Arsenal player after approving his move from Zenit St Petersburg.

Andrei Arshavin: Now a Gunner

Both the Gunners and the player himself had endured an anxious wait after a race to get a deal agreed, signed and sealed on deadline day.

The 27-year-old moves to the Gunners for an "undisclosed fee on a long-term contract" as is now the statutory transfer statement at the Emirates.

"I am so happy to be joining Arsenal. They are one of the leading football clubs in the world, with a group of fantastic young players and a great manager,'' he said.

"I am looking forward to making the Arsenal supporters happy and helping this great club win trophies. I'm happy to be an Arsenal player, it was my dream.''

The Russian revealed the prospect of playing under Wenger was one of many reasons why he had his heart set on the move.

Arshavin told Arsenal's website: "I moved because I like the Arsenal style, Wenger as a coach and I like some of their players. I followed each game from the moment when I met Arsene Wenger.

"He told me every time I talked to him, he said: ''I want you to come to Arsenal". He had confidence in me.''

When asked if he had a message to the Arsenal fans, he answered: "Trust in me and Arsenal.''

"It was a very hard few days for me but now it doesn't matter because I'm a Gunner, it's great,'' he added.

Having played for Zenit in this year's Champions League, Arshavin will not be able to play for the Gunners in the competition.

Wenger hopes the Russian will kickstart the club's campaign for qualification to the Champions League next term, however.

"We are delighted to have signed Andrei Arshavin, he is a player I have admired for a long time,'' the Frenchman said. "He is a versatile player with great experience, who will add real quality to our squad.

"Andrei is an exciting impact player with a huge amount of ability and has been an influential force with both Zenit St Petersburg and the Russian national team in recent seasons.''

Arshavin, who will wear the number 23 shirt, believes it will take him up to two weeks to return to full fitness but insisted he will have no problems adapting to the English game.

Earlier on Tuesday Zenit reported the fee to be a total of £16.95m including future incentives.

The playmaker shot to prominence at Euro 2008 after being a hugely important figure in Russia's qualifying campaign as well as being instrumental in Zenit winning the Russian title in 2007.

Arshavin played 232 games for Zenit, scoring 51 goals and was the 2006 Russian Footballer of the Year.

It seems uncertain when the player will be able to make his debut for the Gunners as he has not played since managing only the first 45 minutes of Zenit's Champions League defeat at Real Madrid on December 10. And before that Arshavin's last game was 70 minutes against Juventus on November 25.

Zenit's official website earlier on Tuesday stated: "The St Petersburg club will receive £16.5m - £15m for the transfer of the player and £1.5m compensation for breaking a long-term contract.

"In addition there is a further 500,000 Euros [£450,000] in bonuses which Arshavin has not yet received which will not be paid and instead make up part of the transfer sum.

"The overall sum of the transfer is around US Dollars 24m [£16.9m].''

Should those figures be correct, the deal would represent a transfer record for the unners.

Arshavin, who is reported to have been prepared to take a pay cut to join Arsenal, will now return to Russia to complete some personal arrangements before starting work at his new club.

[Tony Adams]

http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/13 ... enham.aspx

Sport.co.uk understands that Arsene Wenger is set to make a fresh move to sign free agent Stephen Appiah. The Ghanaian midfielder was training with Spurs during January and boss Harry Redknapp said he was close to making a decision on the player last week.

Redknapp said:

"He has had an injury and his fitness is way below what you'd hope it to be," Redknapp said.

"But he's worked hard so I'll have a look at him and give him a decision because he's been with us for about a month now. He needs to know."

Arsene Wenger was close to securing the signature of Appiah in the summer but Arsenal doctors advised the Frenchman to not make a move for the international unitl the player had proved his fitness levels.

However, since clinching the services of Andrei Arshavin, Wenger is keen to bring Appiah in until the end of the season, with the view of signing the player on a long term contract if he proves his fitness.

Arsenal were unable to comment on the transfer and Tottenham are yet to deliver a statement on whether they are close to signing the former Juventus and Fenerbahce star.

[pires7]

Our record signing


Let's hope he is worth it

[bradley]

Quality signing guys..

[Judge Judy]

hope he flops ;D