talkingOfArsenal.com

I have read numerous blogs and newspapers, and a few of them are questioning Captain Gallas' behaviour on the pitch after the draw with Birmingham on Saturday. My initial instincts immediately after the game, were that as captain, it was important for him to show a strong lead and not let the circumstances of the occasion get to him. I'm glad I decided to wait before blogging about the issue, because I think my initial reaction would have been harsh to say the least. Having mulled over things for a few days now, I'm mentally in a slightly better place than I was after the game to be honest (and I choose my words very carefully, especially use of the word slightly). Having lost Eduardo at the start of the game to such an horrific injury, I think the Arsenal players did a fantastic...

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I never thought that I would be writing this 11 or so games from the end of the '07/'08 season or even after the Birmingham game, however whether we'd like or want to accept this or not, last weekends game just feels like it could be a season-defining one, depending on the Arsenal teams reaction to adversity. This isn't just down to the fact that we dropped two points, when we were literally seconds from claiming all three - no, it's also to do with the multiple psychological blows of losing Eduardo the way we did, squandering multiple chances when we had ample opportunities to finish them off, the (rare?) mistake by Clichy (can a second mistake of similar nature - remember Man City - be called rare?), and finally the reaction of Captain Gallas after the game. Much has been written regarding the Eduardo injury, including...

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At this moment in time, our thoughts are with Eduardo, with the Arsenal.com site having reported that the young striker has undergone surgery on his broken leg. It is obviously too early to say what the result of that tackle is going to be and although it is clear that it is career-threatening, we all sincerely hope it is not career-ending. Eduardo is known for his...

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In the 11 years that Arséne Wenger has managed Arsenal, he has taken a locally popular North London club onto the world stage, turning Arsenal into a globally recognisable brand and one of the top-5 richest clubs in the world. How he has achieved it, is in no small part down to the pure footballing principles that the Frenchman has imbibed into the team. The slick pass and move routines, the athletic pace, the stamina, and the sheer intelligence of Arsenal squad members has been admired by both fan and neutrals alike. Wenger's squad have so made this style their own, so perfected this most effective way of playing, that other teams have resorted to tactics just short of out-and-out violence to contain the Arsenal phenomenon. For a few years now, the rallying cry preceding games against Arsenal amongst...

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The question regarding Wenger's attitude to English players has been asked many-a-time, and the general notion of Arsenal non-believers is that he does not like English players. Although I don't know the man personally, it is said that actions speak louder than words, and his actions are not those of a man who dislikes the English. So, why do so few English players end up playing for Arsenal? The best way I could think of to explain this is this to imagine a funnel, with talented youngsters going in at the top, and well established players with first XI and national team credentials coming out at the bottom. Starting at the top of the funnel, there is the 90-minute rule, which limits clubs to signing youngsters that are within 90 minutes travel time of the clubs training ground. If you consider that London is one of the worlds most cosmopolitan cities so there are fewer...

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Here we go again. The summer is not upon us for a few months, and yet the newspaper and web rumour mill is already going into overdrive regarding the future of Arséne Wenger at Arsenal. As is routine now, Wenger is being linked with a host of top clubs, especially Barcelona. What never ceases to amaze me is that people still don't seem to understand that a board that openly touts for new managers behind the back of an existing coach are exactly the type of outfit that Wenger will not touch with a barge pole - assuming he were ever to consider leaving in the first place. On the face of it, linking Wenger with Barcelona doesn't seem so far-fetched, after all Wenger is a fantastic manager, and Barcelona is a big club, most would say bigger than Arsenal. Put two-and-two together, and hey presto, it all adds up. I will openly admit that at the height of the...

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Recent news headlines have brazenly suggested that the finances of Manchester Utd are in rude health, and that in a few seasons to come, they will become the richest club in the world. I have picked a few examples of these news stories from Sky Sports, BBC News, and The Telegraph, and in each of these, if you carefully read the articles, nowhere do they mention the word debt. All of them refer to revenues and not overall financials, and to be fair, that is the basis of the report from Deloitte and Touch entitled "Deloitte Football Money League 2008" with data from the 2006/2007 season. The problem with these types of headlines is that by omitting to take into consideration the overall financials of a club (which includes debt) this generally gives a completely wrong impression to the normal fan on the street - unless you happen to chance on these Manchester Utd fans who are more realistic about...

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Just a short one this afternoon, indeed more of a poser than a posting. With all the injuries that we had, I was surprised not to see Walcott playing. And our injury list is a long one indeed (excepting Flamini and Gilberto who passed late fitness tests). Indeed, this is all the more strange as parts of the first and second half saw Fabregas playing down the right wing in Walcott territory, with the overall effect that we lost our most creative midfielder, and gained a not-so-effective winger in the Spaniard. In the second...

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One goal at the beginning, one goal at the end, five points clear at the top of the table for the Gunners, and five bullet points to summarise the Blackburn game. 1-Blackburn came to play football, and so we pressured them relentlessly in the first 25mins, yielding a typical full-backs header and a rare goal from Senderos. 2-We dropped off for the next 40mins (astride of the break) without giving Blackburn anything like a whiff of goal. 3-Aside of an 'interesting' Lehmann save on the line to prevent a corner and a clever Bentley free kick, Blackburn huffed and puffed but could not blow the Ashburton Grove house down. 4-Blackburn went attacking in the second half but remained toothless with few shots on target if any, opening the game for us and tiring themselves out by the end of the game at which point Adebayor brilliantly attempted a repeat of that volley at White Hart Lane off a pass from Hleb...

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So Mark Hughes thinks Arsenal have "toughed up", huh? That's an interesting turn of phrase for a manager who's players are probably tired of hearing the words "kick", "head", "groin" and "ground" 5 minutes before they run out at each of their home games. Might it be that he is playing a game of double-bluff? Could it be that shorn of key players due to suspensions and injury, he will revert to what his team know best, the 'kicking' game? Publicly declaring that Arsenal can match Blackburn physically, and then privately telling his team to...

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