talkingOfArsenal.com

Being at the halfway point of the 2007/2008 Premier League season, I thought now would be as good a time as any to do a mid-season review. This is the first of a two-part posting. However rather than doing the usual and simply going through all our games thus far, I thought I might approach it from a slightly different angle and consider some of the issues from last season and this years pre-season, especially in the current context of how well the squad as well as the club as a whole have performed. So getting to the end of last season, we were all shocked and surprised at news of the departure of David Dein, the Vice Chairman and lifelong Gooner. The confusion that surrounded the departure, was made worse by the lack of information regarding the reasons for the parting of ways. At the time, stories abounded about the strong bond that Dein had with Wenger, and how the Frenchman known for his loyalty, would react. Then there was the equally important, but somewhat smaller matter of...

Click to read more ...

Firstly, heartfelt condolences to the family and team-mates of Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell, who died after collapsing towards the end of his side's Scottish Premier League game against Dundee United. These are the times when we're reminded that there are many other things outside of football that are more important. And so to the second half of the Everton v Arsenal game. Just before Eduardo's goal, I was about to make a note to myself asking if Aluminia looks capable in the Arsenal goal due to his personal ability, or whether the current Arsenal back-four hide Almunia's deficiencies because they are a good unit. I didn't have much time to reflect on that before Eduardo clawed back the equaliser with a brilliant goal. Instead, I found myself writing "Where did Eduardo come from?". And where did that "pass from Clichy come from?". The Setanta commentator said ...

Click to read more ...

A short review of the first half away to Everton. With Manchester Utd having lost at West Ham, there is expectation that Arsenal would take advantage of the Mancunians dropping points to reclaim their position at the top of the table. As I expected against a team currently bristling with confidence and playing at home, Everton are 1-0 up from a corner. If I'm to be honest, I think Almunia should have come out to claim the ball, instead leaving it to fly past onto Bendtner's knee, and then scrambled in by Cahill. The game is being played at a somewhat frantic pace, with...

Click to read more ...

Just a quick post to say...

I love my football, and my Arsenal, however there are sometimes things that are far more important than that - like friends, family, and those nearest to us. Like health, and wellbeing, and friendship, and love.

In this time of partying and drinking and eating and merrymaking, spare a thought for those who don't have as much as we do. We might think we're not so well off, but there are always people who are more needy. We might think we're wealthy, but there are always those who are wealthier.

If you can, do a little good, whichever way you see fit, and however small it might seem to you - it always goes a longer way than you can ever imagine.

Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2008!

Happy Christmas.

Contrary to everything logic and everyone else had been telling me, I had a bad feeling about this game. I usually get like this before games where everyone and their dog is predicting a convincing win - I'd read other blogs over the last few days, and all predicted a pretty straightforward dismissal of Spurs, and there were even some that thought scores could end up being a three- to four-goal difference - games like those always gives me the butterflies. So it was with some anticipation that I travelled to the Emirates to watch the second leg of the North London derby between us and Tottenham. The first half was a bit of a strange one. The widely anticipated massacre did not materialise, with Arsenal surprisingly...

Click to read more ...

A couple of days have passed since the Young Guns dispatched Mark Hughes' Blackburn from the Carling Cup, and it strikes me that I haven't heard much in the news regarding the impressive display of the young English players that featured in that game. I thought it only fair that I should attempt to correct what is clearly an anomaly. Wenger named four English boys in the 16-man (16-kid?) squad that travelled, with the able Justin Hoyte (aged 23) and Mark Randall (18) in the starting line-up, along with Kieran Gibbs (18) and Justin's younger brother Gavin Hoyte (17) providing cover on the bench. The four lads...

Click to read more ...

What a game. We've just seen a thrilling second-half cum extra-time performance in which 10-man Arsenal - no, scrap that inaccurate description - 10-kid Arsenal have beaten Blackburn's first team 3-2, after battling through in spite of a numerical disadvantage. An unbelievable achievement, if you ask me, against a Blackburn side that our first team has recently found hard to beat. In the second-half, as predicted, Blackburn came out all guns blazing, looking for quick parity, and I...

Click to read more ...

A very quick summary of the first half, which ended 2-1 to the Arsenal kids. Blackburn set themselves up for their usual physical game, with a few tackles flying in. Unfortunately for them, the kid's passing has been 'untouchable'. You cannot tackle what you cannot get near to! It was a fantastic cross from Bendtner that set up Diaby, who by the way, finished very coolly with a deft...

Click to read more ...

A few more observations from the Chelsea game, and then a look forward to Tottenham at the weekend. When a football match is in full swing, it is virtually impossible to pick up everything that goes on - sure, you follow the flight of the ball, and the tackles around the box, however off-ball incidents are a lot more difficult to spot when watching a game in real time. Until I saw the pictures in the papers reporting from Sunday's game, I hadn't realised that Ashley Cole had also been...

Click to read more ...

In the aftermath of the Arsenal v Chelsea Grand Slam game on Sunday, there have been various allegations (including one on either Radio 5 Live or TalkSport Radio) of Frank Lampard pushing over a ball boy in trying to retrieve the match ball. Clearly, everyone would abhor this kind of behaviour, were it to be true - unfortunately, without any kind of evidence, it is difficult to substantiate this. With a stadium capacity over 60,000, one would like to think that there may have been someone with a camera that might have picked up something of the alleged incident, or even better, to have caught the act itself, if it did indeed happen. If you have ...

Click to read more ...