CSKA Moscow 1 – Arsenal 0

Daniel Carvalho – Djourou and Fab shouldn’t have winced

Henry – The disallowed goal

Our first defeat in 8 games. Nothing much to say really. A typical European away performance by our lads on a cold evening in Moscow. They deserved a goal. We got a deserved equaliser but was cheated out of it by the linesman. A minor blip towards world domination.

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Arsenal 3 – Watford 0

Stewart – own goal
Henry – The King
Adebayor – The Unselfish King

Man of the Match:

Special Mention:

Updates later.

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Spurs dive

Hmm… Eboue-like… Wonder how he conned the ref??

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Charlton 1 – Arsenal 2

Bent – tap in from close rage after a low cross from Hasselbaink
Van Persie – Nice low drive from the left after good work from Hleb
Van Persie – Splendid full-blooded flying volley after a good cross from Eboue

Men of the match:

Henry admonishing Van Persie for his over the top celebration( for an over the top goal!)

Game started well enough with a few chances for both sides to open the scoring. We looked particularly exposed in the left back position where Hoyte kept neglecting his defensive duties and pushed too far up the pitch. Gallas and Toure had to scramble a couple of balls away. At the front, Cesc missed a few good chances and Robin skied two shots well into the top stands.

Our passing and ball control was at the usual high standard. Hleb had a blinder and was easily man of the match if it remained scoreless.

Charlton drew first blood with a highly dubious line call when Hasselbaink received a long ball in a suspiciously offside position and cross it for Bent to tap in.

That followed with a flurry of late and mistimed tackles from both sides producing a few yellow cards 3 for Charlton 1 for Arsenal after Robin kicked Hasselbaink while going for the ball. Normal striker’s foul if you ask me

Henry and Fabregas had a few chances after that but they were straight to the keeper.

Our equaliser came when Hleb dribbled nicely and passed it into Robin’s path for a touch and a low drive into the net.

Robin’s magnificent goal came in the second half following a wonderful teasing cross from Eboue again. This was met with a flying volley straight into the net bewildering Scott Carson and was celebrated on top of the bleachers in front of the fans with a Robin jig.

Lehmann made a great low save, we had a few further tries including one from our sub Rosicky and a missed hattrick chance by Robin when he just had to tap it in. All in all; a great game.

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Highbury

Some of you might have notice the subtle mistake that I included in my last post; a tribute to our old stadium. If your heart can take it then head on down to the pics of  our beloved home being torn down.

On Arsenal team news though, it seems like the team against Charlton will include Djourou and Gallas although they will both get fitness test ahead of the game. From Arsene’s comments though, I think Gallas will get the start.
Let’s just hope at least one of them plays and Hoyte slots in the other place preventing Song from coming in. Hoyte might be slightly lacking in pace and decisions but is at least better than Song!!!! Song gives me palpitations whenever he touches the ball.
This week will also mark Arsene’s 10 years of service to the Arsenal.

Every guy has something positive to say about Le Boss. Particularly striking for opposition fans is his penchant for uncovering gems like Toure, Fabregas and to a lesser extent Eboue at minimal price. Also, don’t forget that he sold Anelka for 23 million pounds and got Henry at half the price.

Arsene, we salute you.

Arsenal Update

A bit lax on the posts due to unavoidable circumstances….

Well… Arsenal has finally won in Highbury thanks to a goal from Gallas, an own goal from Jagielka and a fine headed goal by Henry via a Eboue cross; all coming in in the second half after a fruitless but effective first.

Three days after that we got another clean sheet by beating Porto 2-0 with another headed goal from Henry and a low driven shot by Hleb. Fallout from that game though is that we’ll likely lose Gallas for the Charlton game this Saturday. I guess we’ll be seeing Hoyte at left back again and if Djourou is still not fit….. I shudder to know that Alex Song will be in central defense. All of a sudden, the loss of Cygan to Villareal seems so poignant

On other fronts, Man Utd will be visiting the Toon, Liverpool will be at the Reebok and Chelsea will host the Villans. Speaking of which; Crouch scored a marvellous goal yesterday against Galatasaraay. To be fair, he had all the time in the world to line up his shot and Finnan’s cross was marvellous; still a brilliant goal. Drogba got his first-hat-trick for his club too. Maybe good enough to get him on my Premier League Fantasy team seeing as Chelsea has reverted to a 4-4-2 system. Cheers!

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Another exciting draft of wind left by the WIndow..

In an amazing event, Chelsea FC has decided to issue an official statement regarding Gallas’ transfer.

Chelsea
made William Gallas a very substantial and attractive new contract
offer to stay towards the end of last season. This was rejected.

The
issue was purely one of money, despite his public comments that he
wanted a new challenge, to play abroad and so forth. These were just a
smokescreen to cover up the fact he was hawking himself to the highest
bidder.He went on to
threaten that if he was forced to play, or if he was disciplined and
financially punished for his breach of the rules, that he could score
an own goal or get himself sent off, or make deliberate mistakes.

I wonder how the Chelsea fans will react to this. The whole statement is a joke and the last line even reminds me of a small kid clutching at straws and complaining to mummy.

William Gallas rarely
recognised these responsibilities. He also failed to recognise the role
José Mourinho and Chelsea played in helping him become a double
Premiership champion for a player whose only league title prior to that
had been in the French Second Division.

I am eager to see what Chelsea players like Lampard or Terry have to say to this. “William is always there to spoil the fun. Whenever I miss a tackle, he always has to show how good a defender he is by tracking back. That’s why I had the gaffer move him to the leftback. Then he has the nerve to score more goals then me. I’m the goalscoring defender because I’m the captain. Good riddance”

What a farce. Arsenal shorts has uncovered the unedited version before the proofwriter got his hands on it.

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Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi will be playing his last tournament in the current US Open. He was a rebel during his younger days with his long flowing curly hair and earstuds. He was an icon who provided plenty of entertainment and fun battling it out with Michael Chang, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier in the early nineties. He has been involved in numerous classic matches and the American public simply adore him. Even James Blake got into the tribute act with his replica ensemble of Agassi’s outfit which was outlandish in his time when white polo shirts and white shorts ruled the day.
 
Andre, you’ll always be remembered for making tennis exciting and refreshing.

Transfer window-Don’t get your hand caught when it closes

When all the dust is settled, nearly everyone is praising Arsene and the Arsenal executive board for again making such shrewd moves. We got 3 in and 3 out for a total net gain of 3 milion pounds
Ther most extraordinary move that no Arsenal fan expected. Someone to pay for the services of Cygan! At 2 million pounds!
The question on every gooner’s lips now is what positions will our signings be playing at?
Arsene has acquired
1) In Gallas “an accomplished and versatile defender who can perform anywhere across the back line”
2) In Baptista “bring power in the air and score goals. I can use him either up front or as a hanging attacking midfielder”
3) Another promising youngster who will no doubt be shipped out to another club on loan to gain experience and an European passport and return to carry the Arsenal forward

The doom-mongers will invariably bring up the ‘lack of width’ topic out for discussion again. Since Arsene came in, we never really had real wingers now do we? Ever ‘wide’ player we had always cut in to provide a beautiful through pass more often than a cross. Arsene has always preferred the beautiful way. He has been criticised on this tactic when we lose but praised wholeheartedly when we maintained an unbeaten 49 matches streak and by that went a whole season unbeaten as well. All by using more or less the same method of beautiful direct football.

I don’t see that changing under Arsene. Truthfully, I would loathe when the day comes when Arsene leaves the managerial role in the club. Maybe we just didn’t possess the aerial threat thus undermining the need of crosses since day one. Let’s just see what happens after this when Gallas and Baptista comes into the picture.

Arsene is the big winner, nabbing Rosicky, Baptista and Gallas. That shut the trap of the ‘fresh blood’ wanting Gooners.

Transfer Deadline

Well, well. Unexpected news propped up before the deadline was closed. Cashley out to Chelsea and we get Gallas + 5 million pounds in return. Reyes out to Real Madrid and we get The Beast in return and Atletico moaning for some pre-agreement breach of contract from Reyes. Equal quality swap deals rarely ever happen but we made two on the same day. That’s got to be something.

Oh, and Cygan joined Bobby in Villareal. Denilson joined us from Sao Paulo. A young midfielder to join our legion of young stars.
So what does that mean to the Arsenal? It means we have a decent squad and the ones who were desperate and publicly wanted to leave have gone. Good riddance to Cole. Feel a bit about Reyes because he was good in spurts for us but homesickness looked like the main problem for him. Good luck, Jose.

Goalie is Lehmann with Almunia providing decent cover

Our backline will have Toure, Senderos, Clichy, Lauren and Gallas as the main men with Djorou, Flamini, Eboue and Song providing cover.

Our midfield is looking strong with Baptista, Walcott, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb, Diaby running it

Our forward line with Henry, Van Persie and Adebayor doesn’t look too shabby either with both Walcott, Ljungberg and Baptista available as back up to join the attack too.

We have a decent squad at last to have a strong run in the domestic and European front.

In other news, West Ham pulled off the coup of the season obtaining the services of young Argentinian stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. That has to conjure up the thought of something fishy going on there.

Our fledgling cousins in London; Spurs, also got in the act. Again acquiring decent players in Malbranque and Chimbonda. They keep buying players and under utilizing them, some sort of ‘Football Manager’ syndrome going on there where fresh blood has to be introduced each season???

All in all in looks mighty good for the English Premier League. Looking forward to all the action from a local mamak store near you.