Its AJ back now! Thanks to The Ormer for filling in this weekend in my absence.

Its been “That week” again and with the upcoming fixture against the Spuds this weekend it worries me that we may also loose any tenuous grip we currently have on 4th place in the league as well!

The pre-match post will of course come up later in the week…

Today everything is about the finances after yesterday’s AST meeting. Many of those at the AST meeting have spilled the beans over what they have been told about the club’s finances and although Its great to hear everything thats been said, at times it all gets a little confusing!

Everyone seems to be throwing around various facts, figures, numbers and indeed concerns. The greatest of these financially is the idea we could lose up to 45 million in revenue next year if we fail to qualify for the Champions League this season (At the moment a very likely looking prospect! Just be thankful that Chelsea look equally as bad as we do!) Entwine that figure with the other figure of 55 million (Is that profit on the year? Its all a bit confusing!) and you get the leftover 10 million which in theory is what we have as surplus for contract bolstering and for new signings.

That’s Quite measly really isn’t it!

Maybe so, but lets say we sell a few players … I think we can probably generate roughly the following amounts:

Park (2/3m)
Squillaci(1m)
Arshavin (3/4M)
Diaby (2/3m)
(maybe Gibbs (3/4) Chamakh (3) and Walcott (7 or more)

Then thats another 18 million bringing the total to 30ish.

Not to mention actually selling the guys we have on loan: Mannone, Bendtner, Denilson, Vela (There’s a few million in there too!)

Now that’s still at least workable right there and the reason I say this is because of the increasing maturity of some of the young players in the squad. We have players such as Frimpong, Jenkinson, Coquelin, Miyaichi, Yennaris, Miquel.
Ok so at this point its fair to say a lot of those can’t quite yet cut it at the top level but some of them are developing into very decent players. Especially s0me of those on loan! Look at Miyachi at Bolton, Frimpong until the injury at Wolves

The other reason I am so confident it is possible for a team to be rebuilt on this budget for next season is the prices we have paid for some of the players in the last 10 years or so, 2 or 3 of which we now consider ‘Greats’ of the club.

Ok, so I know that the financial market has changed a lot over the last 10 years but I think we all need to be reminded of some of some historical transfers briefly.

Ljungberg – £ 3,000,000

Robert Pires -£6,000,000

Thierry Henry – £10,500,000

Kolo Toure – £150,000

Cesc Fabregas – Free

Robin Van Persie -£ 2,750,000

( SOURCE: Transfer-League )

Now, i realize that there was a long period of time before a lot of those listed above became first choice at the club. It didn’t just happen over night but it shows what can be bought at a low price if you know where to look!

That said, at the same time its only fair to give a an argument for the other side of things where stuff hasn’t quite gone to plan.

Richard Wright – £6,000,000

Francis Jeffers – £8,000,000

Van Bronckhorst – £8,500,000

Jose Reyes – £13,000,000

Andrei Arshavin – £15,000,000

Sebasitien Squillaci – £4,000,000 (possibly more)

Park Chu-Young – £3,000,000

( SOURCE: Transfer-League )

Yeah, there is some names in there that really didn’t do much at the club and indeed those still with the club have largely failed to live up to their asking price.

Going back to my earlier point of a post sales budget of 30ish million. That should get 2 players of discernible quality. But only if Wenger buys the right players. Though at that point the squad is even thinner than it is now due to the sheer number of players having to be sold to free up the required funds.

(7 Out 2 In)

I guess the overall swing of this post is that there isn’t necessarily a need to go out and buy the well known players who’s names have been thrown around recently.

Don’t get me wrong, money needs to be invested into the squad 0ver the summer… drastically and it would be nice to see a name like Götze, Hazard or Podolski pop up as a new signing on the news section of Arsenal.com but at times you have to get realistic. Even if we were to have the 50 million sum of money that was rumoured to be available to spend this summer Götze is thought to be on sale for about 40, leaving only 10 for other re-enforcement and contract extensions (i.e Robin Van Persie…)

As regards the ridiculous strangling of the budget due to massively over paying  players that do basically naff all. . . what do you want me to say really ? There isnt anything that can be said other than its shocking and that its financially ruining the club. This whole 1st team equality thing is not doing anything to help us whatsoever.

The price on a player’s head is decided by how much value his contract is worth to the team or a prospective buyer. Why should wages be different?

An office junior is not paid the same as a director or manager why should everyone in our first team earn a similar wage?

I dare to think what Squillaci and Almunia are being paid every week. If its even close 50% of what Van Persie is getting then its an utter disgrace! I can pretty confidently say, its is.

Food for thought right there…

Until Next Time

FORWARD!
AJ  

Possibly the most important game of Arsene Wenger’s reign. A dramatic statement: why do I think that?

Well, firstly, that’s how Arsene will approach it … but mainly because it follows his unprecedented level of criticism of the team – following the abject performance against Milan in the San Siro on Wednesday evening. How the team reacts (whether we win, lose or draw) will determine a number of issues for the rest of this season, the Summer and beyond, both in Arsene’s mind and in his transfer dealings. I for one think he has already made up his mind on the course of action if we do not WIN the FA Cup AND finish in the top four.

It goes without saying that, even if we win comfortably and secure a place in the quarter-final draw, the “most important game” tag just moves along a week to the Spuds visit.

So, from the Italian School of ground preparation to the Tyne & Wear Agricultural Academy and some big decisions for the Boss. He must throw the proverbial kitchen sink at Sunderland, but with our injury list beginning to grow (again) he must keep an eye on individual burn-out and injury cover.

I think he will drop RVP to the bench and start Chamakh with Arshavin and Walcott up front. Rosicky, Song and Coquelin in the middle with Sagna, Djorou, TV and Gibbs at the back. The Club’s tallest keeper to start … how does his goals-per-game ratio compare to “Wookash”?  I do think that Chez adds a certain something to the side … but his distribution on Wednesday was woeful. Almost every  clearance (read, pass) went to a Milan shirt … and two led directly to goals. This is not new … so I’m not sure why our defenders can’t see it … and not choose the “safe” route of a pass back. It is similar to when our players leave a ball to go out for a throw-in … from which we immediately lose possession: Grrr!

Anything like that annoy you?

As I write, Ryo has opened his account for Bolton by scoring against Millwall in the FA Cup. May this be the sign of things to come!

Back to the game … my prediction is 0 – 3 to the good guys, with Arsh to open the scoring. What do you think?

AJ will be back to sum up after the result … until then

FORWARD!

Today there is going to be no filling. This post will be short, blunt and to the point for two reasons ! Please excuse the poor grammar!
Firstly i have a train to catch and secondly this is going to be a matter of trying to keep emotions in check and attempting to avoid profanities.

As is usually my style i shall start with a rant… about a rant!

Wenger unleashing his apparent “fury” at the players on the training ground yesterday has absolutely no substance or point and before you disagree, hear me out.

Firstly. The dressing room, before the start of the game is an inspirational time and the time to motivate the players to play to their full potential. Half time is the time to assess what is going wrong, fix, discipline then try again. If the players are still playing poorly, the XI in the dressing room are the ones that must be punished, disciplined, scalded or whatever whilst still at the ground. Why do it with an entire squad a lot of which are already low on confidence, Chamakh, Park, Arshavin etc

Also, how is saying “I’m going to sell you, you you and you at the end of the season” really going to motivate? The aforementioned players have already said they wish to leave at the end of the season have they not? Arshavin to that rich billionaires club in Russia and so on and so forth ?

The second point I would like to make, is that if you are not satisfied with the performance of players during the game, don’t have the nerve to sit there in the semi submerged dugout with your head only just poking over the pitch surface in complete silence. Give them a good bollocking from time to time during the 90mins. YOU are the boss Arsene … At times, I am not even sure that the players or indeed YOU understand that! Yes, dodgy pitch, yes offside goal, yes doggy penalty. But still 4-0? Its a joke Arsene.

There is nobody else to blame. Not even a lack of money (which, I will clearly state I don’t believe is true) Look at what David Moyes has done after losing most of his best players. The start of Everton’s season was dreadful yes, but now after strengthening on a shoestring in Jan they are now a somewhat formidable outfit!

I switched to Skysports News straight after the game on Wednesday and it was then that I saw the saddest part of the night. Nigel Winterburn’s assessment of the game. The poor guy was sat in the studio being asked questions about the team he once played for and obviously still loves like a family member. To have to try to express his disappointment of the performance was like seeing someone who had recently lost a loved one opening up and trying to explain what he felt. I wrote down roughly what he said. Albeit, slightly abbreviated:

I am thoroughly disgusted with the players performance today. They should be ashamed, all 11 of them. Not 1 player won their 1vs1. Chamberlain is the only positive so why did he not start?

Anyone disagree? If so. Comment at the bottom I would love to hear what you have to say that differs ? Im guessing there isn’t many of you!

All I can say is i REALLY hope it isnt “That Week” again. You know the one i mean right? The week where we lose 2 or 3 games in the space of 7/8 days and go out of 2 /3 competitions rendering the entire season a complete failure? It usually comes about mid march (it did last year with venom!) This year it seems to have come early, coinciding with the likely lack of St Tottringham’s day!

Anyway! Lets move on now before I have to start reaching for the Prozac!

Sunderland. . . AGAIN.

Away… AGAIN

Its Going to be tough … AGAIN

Wenger is probably going to be Incompetent… AGAIN

Hopefully Ramsey will score … AGAIN

See where i am going with this ? See if you can work out my score prediction from that!

I gave a fairly brief description of their squad and who to look for last time

Sessegnon  - Top goalscorer and someone we were at some point linked with ? Am I right ?

McClean – Scored against us last outing other than that hasn’t really looked that promising (sod’s law he will now score a hat-trick against us just out of spite…)

Thats all that needs mentioning on their side.

And for us ?

Well… Against Milan, Arteta had a shocker, as did Djourou (no surprise there…) as did Walcott. I could go on!

Hopefully after Wenger’s rant, they should all be inspired although as you can tell by earlier in this post i very much doubt that!

Team news is pretty standard. Mertesacker is out, Koscielny is out for a week so i expect Djourou to fill in.  I expect the squad to line up as follows:

Chezzer, Djourou, Gibbs, Sagna, Vermaelen, Arteta, Song, Ramsey, Walcott, RVP, The OX.

Prediction 1-2  If all goes to plan! If we play like we did on wednesday then we aren’t going through. 2-0 Sunderland

Until Next Time

FORWARD

AJ 

Oh and P.s Completely off topic. But if you are a fan of Italian food check out this blog by a friend!

Spanglish And Spaghetti

This weekend saw the final League game for Thierry Henry in an Arsenal shirt… for now at least ! (Then again, we all said that when he left the first time!)

Now the focus has to turn to the players that are returning from the African Cup of Nations.

I am of course refferring to Marouane Chamakh and Gervinho (aka “How do you spell your actual name ?”)

That then causes a selection headache and not only because of the fumes produced by the amount of hairspray / gel that Chamakh applies before every game! The problem arises when the decision has to be made between Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Gervinho on the left wing. If it were up to me, the decision would be simple with the Ivorian being relegated to the bench and AOC being the main man on the wing however I do get the feeling that Wenger may go with the more experienced of the two when he returns. It may even be worth a cheeky experiment resting RVP, sticking Chamberlain in the middle, Gervinho on the left, Walcott on the right ?

Your Thoughts ?

It was good to see Ramsey find the back of the net at the weekend for a number of reasons. The first of these is that hopefully that should start to silence some of the critics that have heavily slated the Welshman over the course of the season, unfairly in my view. I also hope that it is the start of much more as it would be nice to see him fill the rather large shoes left by Fabregas last season which is what he was so heavily billed to do in the pre-season (once again, pretty unfair to expect such a step up!)

On a more dark note the strange connection with Ramsey scoring and the demise of a celebrity continued with Whitney Houston after the Sunderland game. This follows Gadaffi, Steve Jobs and Bin Laden. All of which died the day after Ramsey’s last three goals!

Next time he scores my fingers will be crossed for Justin Bieber !

He’s also in my fantasy league squad so I am biased anyway!

Momentum wise, its nice to see us heading to Milan with a 6 league points in our back pocket and an almost full strength team ! Just imagine if we were facing them 10 / 11 days ago. I am cautiously optimistic about at least a point in Italy but at the same time I do not feel it would be a disaster to lose away from home. In fact, I am starting to think that being in the champions league this season (which I think its fair to say, we have very little chance of winning) could be detrimental to securing entry to it next season! It could also ruin any chance of us obtaining silverware in the form of the FA cup!

Anyhow, its still nice to walk away from the Stadium Of Light with 3 points and was a fitting end to Henry’s 2nd stint with the club. Excluding Liverpool, that should be the toughest away game left in the league this season…thank F**k! Its all about the teams we have to play at home in the coming weeks really with City, Chelsea and Newcastle all making visits to the Emirates!
Win those and surely 4th should be almost guaranteed!

Match Preview day tomorrow.

Until Then, see you in the comments!

FORWARD

AJ

Its been a rather un-eventful 2 or 3 days as regards news of any substance but here is a quick overview before I begin. Oh and don’t forget to answer today’s poll! (Bottom of the post!)

Hazard – Wenger has been chatting about Edin and how, quite frankly, we can’t afford him and that there is no spare money

Money – Wenger says that we are required to make 20M every year in profit so there is no spare money

Chamberlain –  Is now considered the January signing that we needed so badly according to a lot of sites even though we bought him in August last year. There was no January signing because we have no money…

I think you can see where I am going with this …

Oh ! And Redknapp must have been playing Monopoly as he seemed to have a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card up his sleeve (Probably knowing his track record traded for a tenner or somewhere crap like Old Kent Road…)
SO…

Lets have a post with no talk about money. Lets talk about the future!

In my Ultimate (if still somewhat cynical and flawed) wisdom, I have had a go and predicted the outcomes of all of the remaining matches this season (using the BBC’s predictor thing… its quite fun ! Have a go! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/predictor/default.stm)

I came out with two completely different overall tables at the end of the season.

Don’t get me wrong. If I genuinely had a clue what the results were going to be for all of the remaining fixtures I would: Be a pundit on sky sports by now, be in hot demand with bookmakers and be a millionaire by July after placing the mother of all accumulators!

However!

The first table I came out with had a very pessimistic view of us losing all of the remaining games against  the other top 6 clubs (except S**rs … I couldn’t even write a loss down… too painful.) And mainly table and current form predictions of the other games, including those against lower table opposition!

It reads as follows…

Predicted end of season table

As you can see, it doesn’t make for great reading…

Finishing not only outside the top 4 but not even getting the 5th place Europa league place is dire !

It also shows how close it could potentially be!

The other table created afterwards I followed through after every game week. It was slightly more optimistic, winning all of the ‘non top 6′ games and winning against Newcastle and Liverpool.

The top 4 remained the same (with us in 5th).
This has made me realise that the challenge ahead is much bigger now than even the most optimistic Gooner can think will be easy. It worries me that the Spuds haven’t blown up yet and although they have a tough February I am worried it just isnt going to happen!

Chelsea losing a 3 – 0 lead at the weekend does give me a little more confidence of catching them that they aren’t the team they once were even if Sir Alex’s good friend Howard did have a rather large impact on the game! The Scousers and the Toons will still be hard to beat for 4th especially seeing as we have to play Liverpool at Anfield !

On a closing note, its been announced that Fabio Capello has resigned from the England Managers position! Anyone see that coming ? I cant say I did!

Odds for next manager (Skybet)

Redknapp  7/2 Fav

Mourinho  8/1

Wenger 14/1

I cant personally see any of those guys leaving their respective clubs any time soon… well … not at least till the end of the season as regards Arsene! I wouldn’t mind Harry managing England I do rate him as a manager but at the same time that could potentially open the door for Mourinho, who has said he wishes to manage another English club, to move to Shite Heart Lane. That, is something to really fear!

Until Next Time, have a read of ‘The Eternal Sunshine of the Sporting Mind‘ Its a general sports blog and a really good read!

FORWARD! 

AJ

Good evening!  Woah what a weekend of football we have been treated to! There has been more action, goals, dismissals and penalties than any other weekend I can think of in recent times!
To note a few :

Yesterday we destroyed Blackburn 7-1, Cisse (Djibril) got sent off on debut for QPR… Gutted…

Today there was another classic between Chelsea and United at Stamford Bridge finishing 3-3 and Cisse (Papiss) smashed home an absolute blinder on debut for Newcastle. Unfortunately that means they move into 4th above us.

Yesterday afternoon showed that we can deal with lower quality opposition in a clinical, ruthless and confident fashion. Indeed the scoreline of 7 – 1 didn’t even reflect very correctly on the overall swing of the game. A more justified scoreline would be somewhere in the region of double figures (say, 9-0 ? 10-1?) there was a number of decent chances missed it could have been a record score!

That said, its very difficult to grasp to what extent of recovery we have undergone. Blackburn, it is fair to say, didn’t to any extent turn up yesterday and their only goal was a decent free kick Szc should have done better seeing as he got a full palm on it.

For the first time this season I cannot think of anyone in the midfield or indeed up top who had a bad game however there is three players who spring to mind for praise.

Robin Van Persie:  Ok, thats obvious, if you score a hat-trick you are going to get praised for it but the finish for his third goal (might have been the 2nd… im not sure) striking it first time into the top right hand corner, was sublime and was one of those which showed his true underlying class we have always known he has! See, its amazing what you can achieve if you aren’t constantly injured !

Theo Walcott: Much better game for Theo, he outpace, out thought and genuinely scared the Rovers defence. His crossing was much better than we have seen recently and he seemed generally much more composed than usual ! Maybe someone has told him “You want 90K a week? Earn it!”

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Its nice to see the Ox getting on the score sheet at last. He has been threatening to do so every time Wenger has given him opportunities. In my view he needs to continue to be played even once Gervinho is back. He has more of a cutting edge and shows more intent in front of goal! His first goal was a show of commitment as it looked for a time that his first touch was too heavy. He recovered and buried the shot past Robinson. It was probably justified that he was serenaded with ”Feed the Ox and he will score” for most of the 2nd half!

This month will hold much, much tougher challenges starting next weekend with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. I doubt a similar scoreline is on the cards but if we play in the same attacking manner it should be an easy 3 points !

Until Next Time

Forward!

Its time to face facts. This season is shaping up to be the worst in the reign of Arsene Wenger and for me this is a very dark time.

You see I am frequently being told by the older Gooners among us, whether it be my father or indeed people blogging etc that “Things could be worse”.

I am of course referring to the years Prior to my birth (1991 if anyone wants to be specific) and indeed the few years during which I was very young.

Naturally. Its fair to say, I do not have a memory of Arsenal pre-Wenger. So to me the idea of having anyone else manage the side would be somewhat strange. Sadly though however I can still see that Le Boss is not quite the force he once was. The idea that someone can go through a transfer window with the squad that we have and not buy a single player of any recognised, discernible quality is absolutely beyond me. Yes, there is likely to be an improvement in the coming weeks as the players formally injured return to full fitness but irrespective of this the squad simply is not strong enough. How many times this season have we sat back and seen a lack of creativity? Even the record of games we have won have been mostly 1-0 or 2-1. Its not exactly the squad that less than a season ago were tearing up defences and winning by margins of 3 or 4 against the mid table clubs.

Newcastle and Liverpool are now genuine contenders to get into the 4th spot making it now a four horse race. Battling Chelsea was hard enough as it was!

Anyway, enough ranting!

Its time for something that’s a little more light hearted. So here’s a video from Youtube of Jack Wilshire singing along to Usher whilst driving.

http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/virals/2012-02-02/video-jack-wilshere-didnt-want-you-see-arsenal-midfielder-singing-his-heart-out?

Hopefully tomorrow there should be something more positive to talk about. Match Preview for a minimum.

Lets face it, a lot of people, even those who are sworn Wengerites are starting to doubt and lose the faith. And as we all know, that is a very slippery slope!
Until Next time!
Forward!

AJ

I trust that like myself many of you will have been glued to SkySports News  last night whilst franticly refreshing twitter pages to see who was going where last night !

But my my, what a boring window its been ! Only 40 some odd million being splashed out across the whole month and indeed as is usual, only a dismal portion of it being used to strengthen our squad. (400,000 ish if what we are lead to believe is correct)

It has all seemed very quiet !

Even so, we did make the signing of Thomas Eisfeld from Dortmund. I know its not a saviour signing but he does have potential! It will be good to see what happens to him over the next few months. Will he get a run in the side ? Or will he simply be confined to the reserves and the occasional injury forced bench appearance … its bound to happen with our track record!

The management also committed social suicide once more after revealing that Wilshire’s injury is indeed another fracture. This time its the heel and on that note be out for quite some time… possibly the rest of the season.

I am guessing that there are a number of you out there that aren’t happy that we were all told AFTER the window closed. Then again. Would you have preferred that we all knew and watched as nothing got done to replace him ?

As regards the match preview part of this post. There really isn’t that much to say to be honest its a pretty standard league game!

A lot of blogs, websites papers etc are suggesting that this match is going to be crucial. I say to that: “Well… duh!”. All the games from here on in are crucial, especially the ones that we should be expecting to win ! For many years Bolton have been one of the teams that we have had problems with however, that was generally when they were under the leadership of Sam Allardyce.  Under Owen Coyle they are a completely different team, a team in a re-building process but still one that shouldn’t be underestimated. Nevertheless, we should all be thinking and indeed expecting 3 points at the end of the night !

Bolton 0 – 2 Arsenal – (Optimistic, but im sure any of us will take 3 points any way they come!)

Woo… Almost a full squad to pick from tonight ! So lets get this down!

Predicted Starting XI:

Szczesny, Coquelin, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Rosicky, Song, Arteta, Walcott, Van Persie, Chamberlain.  

Rosicky had a fairly good game at the weekend, well… like everyone else only really in the 2nd half! Its also about time Ramsey had a rest, he hasn’t been looking too sharp as of late. Coquelin over Sagna? For tonight yes, most likely even if he did come on at the weekend for a few mins. He is coming back from a long term injury remember.

On a closing note, I had the afternoon off today so watched the Eurosport coverage of the ACON game between Niger and Morocco. Chamakh was the main man up front and indeed was given the captains armband at about 35 minutes in. He looked like a different player ! He was quick, committed and seemed to open up the opposition pretty easily indeed grabbing the assist for the only goal of the game. Ok its against a lower quality side than in the premier league but its still a start. Maybe all he needs is responsibility. Heaven forbid, if he gets it at club level… we must be in real trouble!

Until next time… Read Ormer’s Post from this morning. Its only had a few views but its a good bit of writing ! – Windows and Orphans
FORWARD !

AJ

Jerry Seinfeld arrived with neatly packed Louis Vuitton injury baggage. A lot of rather unfair comparisons have been made to Amaury Bischoff – but Arsene did tell us that Amaury was a bit of a gamble … and most gambles fail.  I like the sound of this young guy – and Arsene is not spouting him as a gamble. It will be interesting to see how quickly he beds down and knocks on the first team door – unless we’ve bought him “with an eye for the future”; in which case, I look forward to seeing him in whatever warm-up replaces the Emirates Cup. I note from the Arsenal.com fixture list that we have three consecutive home games against Coldplay in June.

Anyway, on behalf of CTSTA, a warm welcome to the best club in the World, Thomas … here’s to a long, injury-free and successful red-and-white career!

Good luck also to Ryo Miyaichi – off to the sunny climes of Bolton until the end of the season … hey, it worked for Jack!

One of the Club’s failings in recent seasons has been “Managing Expectations”: a phrase loved by business gurus the World over. In this transfer window, no expectations were built (it is different from hope, by the way) so the disappointment is lessened somewhat. I bet, like me, most of you were still glued to Sky Sports News and Twitter though … just in case.

All we need now is to keep RVP fit and well until the end of the season … perhaps our Lasagne Chef could cook for him a couple of days before any Holland Internationals!

 Forward!

Wow! What a match we were treated to yesterday! It just shows how much magic there still is in the FA Cup even when not necessarily taken seriously by some of the top teams.

Anyway, unfortunately I was forced to watch the game yesterday at the house of a relatively anti-Arsenal friend therefore the ‘report’ part today will be fairly brief and simple.

The First half of the game it has to be said didn’t exactly go our way with our only real effort of the 45 arising from a piece of beautiful free kick organisation. RvP laying the ball off to Vermaelen who thoroughly stuck his foot through the ball forcing a very acrobatic save from Shay Given in the Villa goal. Unfortunately we were soon to be punished for that good bit of keeping as we fell asleep at the wheel once more as regards set pieces. Dunne at the back post to head home, 0-1 Villa.

At this point, i think it would still be fair to say that there was still a feeling of “Yeah i still think we can do this”. Though, soon after any of these optimistic thoughts were soon dashed as Darren Bent lashed the ball into the net on the second attempt after being denied by Fabianski, who in fairness, had a fairly good game (with no strange runs or flapping!). 0-2

There was a number of angry and depressed facebook posts and tweets at half time. Indeed mine was one of those posts and read as follows:

“AJ - Arsenal. You are thoroughly a joke. In fact no. A disgrace.”

I still however, do not agree with those at the ground letting out a large “Boo” at the whistle.

Whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea (Whilst not quite a Bovril and a pie…) at half time I discussed with my host the fact that the first ever match I watched live back at Highbury was exactly the same scoreline at the halfway point, surely the same thing could never happen again… Or could it ? Surely only the deluded would think so!

If  you wish to look at the details of that game it can be found here: http://www.worldfootball.net/spielbericht/premier-league-2001-2002-arsenal-fc-aston-villa/

The second half saw exactly the same XI take to the field and despite the comments of the pundits on ESPN suggesting that changes needed to be made it seems as Wenger’s words at half time, whatever they may have been sparked the team into life with Mertesacker’s header cleared off the line by Ireland. It appeared it was going to be ‘one of those days’. However less than 5 mins later Ramsey was brought down in the box, the resulting penalty taken by RvP with an inch perfect penalty. Surely going in even if Given had dived the right way.

The revival continued with a quite frankly lucky goal as Hutton smashed the ball against Theo Walcott’s chest (possibly with a hint of arm in there too). The result of which was the equalizing goal. Usually you would have to feel sorry for the defender. Then you remember he’s an ex Spud.

The winning goal came from a very soft penalty as Bent took down Koscielny. Van Persie once again stepping up to complete a quite miraculous turnover.

The last 20 mins or so we looked strong and organised in defence, much more so than we have of recent times and with the addition of Sagna in the last few mins (also with Henry) we looked a much calmer side and were indeed capable of holding onto the lead to progress to the next round.

I was at this point feeling somewhat nostalgic yet still with a sense of Deja Vu, exacerbated by the fact that Henry was on the pitch!

Overall, its nice to see a comeback and some fight from a side that this season has quite frankly been questioned about its passion and commitment, including the manager. However it is very important not to get carried away with the whole idea. We were VERY lucky in the way we scored the 2nd and indeed a couple of decisions late on (including a very poor offside decision) as much as we all like to dream, we are still a long way from Wembley.

As regards transfers. It appears Wenger has chosen to behave somewhat like a 14yr old:

“I cannot say ‘nothing’ but it will be a little bit of a miracle now. The biggest thing for us is to get our players back. When you look at the bench today, we had top quality…”

He later added

“but you never know”

Its a little cheeky to leave us on the edge like that however it certainly makes the last 24 hrs of the transfer window a little more exciting with even a slim chance of additions. I must say though … I doubt it very much !

Until next time!
Forward!

AJ