What a couple of weeks

Wow, so much has gone on since my last post over two weeks ago (slack I know, but blogging doesn't pay the bills in the same way work does), with yesterday seeing the arrival of many members of the first team squad at Buckingham Palace for tea and biccies with Lizzie. I must say, Julio looks awfully comfortable in this photo, and Denilson obviously hasn't taken to suppping dried up leaf water just yet. Give him time though, he's only been here six months.

So, 3-1 against the Spuds (which I went to, knocked out a fantastic write up afterwards, only to have my browser crash, deleting the post and leaving me too pissed off to rewrite it), 1-1 at Middlesbrough, 2-1 at home to Blackburn and a long-time coming 3-1 destruction of Fat Sam's piglets.

I'm not going to go into any of the games in much detail, mostly because of the amount of time that's passed since they actually took place, but in general I've been very happy with what I've been seeing, particularly from the younger players who are on the fringes of the first team and have really seemed to have found their feet at the top level over the past fortnight.

I'm talking in particular of Diaby (who impressed last season as well, but who none were sure would be the same player after that horrific injury), Clichy (who is playing regular first XI but is now really emerging from under the shroud of being known as Ashley Cole's stand in for the past however many seasons), and Denilson (who is quite clearly a Brazilian clone of Fabregas). These three have played a lot of first team football in the last two weeks and have each looked every inch an Arsenal player.

Each of these players coming through is important to the first XI, because of the positions they play in.

Clichy is repaying the boss' faith for not going out and buying a new left back apres Cashley. He's come on so much since marking down the left back berth as his own and if he keeps working on his concentration and defensive discipline he really could be an outstanding player. He has gas by the tankload and he just runs all day long. In the second half of extra time on Wednesday night I couldn't believe how he was still motoring up and down the far touchline. Fantastic.

Diaby is showing that we do have strength in depth in the Gilberto postion, and I don't think it will be that long before he displaces the Brazilian in that more defensive centre mid role. He gets stuck in, is an absolute shed, and has the grace and foresight Vieira used to show. There's no doubt that he's a better "footballer" than Gilberto, he just has to nail his positional awareness and defensive responsibilities.

And Denilson. Wow. The kid has so much tactical nous, allied with his obvious ability on the ball and super range of passing. Maybe it is an exaggeration to label him Fabregas Mk II so early in his Arsenal career, but he seems like a samba Cesc in every way. He's got the same fight in him that Fab has as well, which I always like to see. With Fabregas having played so much football this season already, Denilson is an obvious alternative in the more creative midfield role, and I think Wenger has the confidence to start him. There's an article from the Daily Mail which goes over his role at Bolton and also has some quotes about his lack of apprehension regarding his move to England. He's obviously a fan of English football and I think his style is best suited to the English league, and the fact that he didn't really stand out at Sao Paolo, according to Tostao, speaks volumes for that.

Other bits and bobs flying about include Robinho giving Tottenham a good kick in the ego, Gallas returning from a lifetime out injured (let's hope it's not too soon, again), Arsene giving Aliadiere yet more proof of his faith in him (right or wrong he's certainly shown what he's about recently), and Kolo still claiming his little brother is better than him (he's not).

So, Blackburn in the Cup tomorrow lunchtime, and I imagine we'll see another mix of youth and experience with an away day at PSV just round the corner. It'll be interesting to see exactly what side Arsene puts out. If he hadn't played 120 minutes on Wednesday, I'd be wanting to see Denilson.

Come on you Reds.

More injury woes before Spuds

Julio "la Bestia" Baptista has been confirmed as absent for tonight's game against the old enemy at the Emirates, and could well be missing for a couple of weeks. Which is a bit of a bugger really, considering that, with RvP probably missing now for the rest of the season, he would have had his eye on a regular spot in the starting XI, rotating with Ade Cool to partner Thierry.

Injuries have hit Arsenal like a plague over the past two season. Before then we were always fairly averagely listed on the injury table, but for some reason we've been hit for six off consecutive seasonal deliveries. I don't know if the Lewin clan are doing something differently on the physio table, or if, as has been claimed in certain areas, that Arsene is rushing players back from injury too early, but something's shifted recently.

Anyway, with Baptista added to the missing list, our side for tonight is likely to be a back five of Aluminium, Hoyte, Kolo, Big Phil and not-that-Traore; a midfield of YTW, Diaby, O'Silva and not-that-Denilson; with Adebayor and Prince Ali up front. I would think that the bench will contain Rosicky, Cesc, Randall, Poom and maybe, maybe Thierry. It'll be interesting to see if Arsene is confident enough to leave Henry out of the squad completely.

All this talk of an injury-ravaged Arsenal side has, of course, led to rumours that Arsene is about to plunder the market for a last minute "panic buy". Antonio Puera of Seville and the Czech defender Ondrej Mazuch have been mentioned, whilst we've apparently agreed to take young French striker Sunu on at the end of the season.

Whispers regarding Hearts' Scottish keeper Craig Gordon are doing the rounds as well. I have to say that I'd be very happy with Gordon being installed as Jens' long-term successor. He's that rare football oddity, a good Scottish goalie, and he's also a bit of an animal on Football Manager, so that's good enough for me.

So, a goaless draw would be enough for us tonight against the Lilywhites, but I fancy a few goals either way.

Come on you Reds.

Hallelujah

No time for a proper post today. Just wanted to share the news (if you haven't already heard it) that Alexandre Song has joined Charlton Athletic on loan for the rest of the season.

Lots of fans have complained about the stick that Song has received from some areas of the Gooner support. Whilst I completely agree that getting on a player's back when he's having a poor game helps no one, case in point when Alex (allegedly) got booed at Fulham this year, Song is patently not an Arsenal-level player yet, and I'm glad that he's stepped out of the hotly contested battle for a centre midfield berth. It's a clear signal that Denilson and Diaby are both rated higher, which has reassured me that Arsene isn't going senile.

Odds on the Addicks getting relegated have now shortened dramatically.

Tuesday quickie

Right, just a quick one today, partly cos there's not much going on, and partly cos I'm busy.

I'll lead off with the UEFA team of the year (as voted by yours truly and other visitors to the UEFA website back in October, I don't know why it takes so long to collate the data) which features two Gooners in Cesc and Thierry.

It's pretty much the team I picked (although I had mad mad Jens in goal and Arsene as the gaffer) and considering it was voted for back in October I don't think you can argue with any of them that much. Some of my Man Yoo chums were whining that spaghetti head should be in there at right mid, and Gerrard should replace Cesc at centre mid, but Ronaldo, as expanded upon yesterday, did bugger all at the World Cup, and was relatively ordinary last season.

Arsenal reserves lost 3-0 to the Spuds last night, and young Henri Lansbury (he's English, despite the francophile spelling of his first name) got himself sent off. Lots of the players who would have played are in contention for tomorrow night's game, so it's not that surprising that a very young side was shown up.

The Daily Mail has run a story involving Cesc talking about clear the air talks following the one nil loss at Sheffield that has propelled us to a five game winning streak in the new year, scoring 17 goals in the process. It's good to see that a young player such as Fabregas is unwilling to give up on the title chase until it is statistically impossible. I also like where he talks about having an obligation to win something every season. What a great attitude the lad has, especially compared to other players of his age I could name.

Less than a week before the FA Cup tie with Bolton, Nicolas Anelka has come out to say that he'd like to return to Arsenal one day. I'm sure Walrus Face is thrilled about that. Here's hoping he bags an OG as well.

In closing it strikes me now that I haven't made mention of Lauren's move to Pompey, which is fast becoming an Arsenal defenders retirement home. I'll just reiterate what I said whilst the speculation was going on, to say that Wenger must've thought he would be the same after injuries kept him out for a year, that he has high hopes that Eboue will stop being a little twat and that Hoyte will become a better player, and that he didn't want to stand in the way of the nearly-thirty Lauren getting a two-year contract at a Premiership club. He was a great servant to the club, and did so well in taking over directly from an Arsenal legend (but rubbish pundit) in Lee Dixon. He was also the hardest bastard in our team, and when he and Vieira had a barney on the team bus, everyone's money was on the Cameroonian amatuer boxing champion.


Goodbye Ralph, and thanks for everything. Especially when you picked Cristiano Ronaldo up by the throat. That was ace.

Title race wide open?

Well, no to be honest, but bloody hell did it feel good to do the domestic double over Man Yoo for the first time since 97-98 (as memory serves, and look what happened that season). However, whilst we were also 12 points back at one point that year, we had a game in hand, and there weren't three clubs sitting above us. That said, the results at the weekend have left the top of the table as interesting as it has been for many a year at this stage of the season.

Whilst the game was not the peak of technical attacking excellence that many a neutral will have been hoping for, I thought it was a full blooded, frenzied example of the Premiership's top teams going at it hell for leather at each other. Clear cut chances may have been at a premium, but there was some nice football on show (most notably from Fabregas, who is just a cut above) and some crunching tackles. Both teams defended very well, the goals scored aside, and I thought it was a cracking game.

It's days like this that make you glad you know so many Man Yoo fans (I think we all know our fair share), and it's rare that after a defeat, you find so many of them as gracious as I did yesterday afternoon. It was similar after the game at Old Trafford, and whilst I think that a draw would've been a fair result yesterday, we did enough to win it.

Thierry got man of the match, which is really quite beyond me. He maybe (I'm still not sure myself) should have had a penalty, and he scored a fine header, but other than that he was completely anonymous (as was Rooney, save for his goal and a fine strike that Jens tipped on to the bar). Personally I might have given it to Evra, who was excellent (although both Arsenal goals came from his side), or Ferdinand, or Fabregas. Sky's refusal to consider a player from the losing team as man of the match is ridiculous, especially in a game that was as tight as this.

I have to say that I was fairly unimpressed with a number of individual performances, particularly from the attacking players, although this might have something to do with the excellent defensive performances put in by both sides. Hleb had another of his "I want to play centre mid" games, and Adebayor brought nothing to our game (other than a quality cross for Henry in the first half. I'm getting really bored of people raving about him because he "runs his heart out". I saw plenty of examples of him loping around the pitch yesterday). On the United side I thought that both Carrick and Scholes contributed very little in an attacking sense, and I couldn't believe that the Ronaldo that turned up is the prohibitive favourite for player of the year.

I've been saying for a while now, within my circle of football-loving friends, that spaghetti head is yet to do it against the big clubs, in the big games, or on the big stage. He had a poor World Cup (where he was upstaged by the geriatric Luis Figo), has brought nothing of note to this year's Champion's League campaign (although neither did the other United players) and has not done the business against Arsenal (twice), Liverpool or Chelsea. As this is a claim that was put against Henry for a long time (which there is now stacks of evidence to disprove, but that's another argument) I think it's a little premature to carp on about him being the best player in the world right now. I'm sure he'll go on to put in top class performances against real opposition in games with real pressure, but he hasn't done it yet. He did nothing against us yesterday, for all his tricks and touches. I honestly can't remember him beating a player.

As mentioned earlier, I think that both back fours did well (Clichy gave a very good account of himself against both Giggs and Ronaldo) although Eboue's despicable gamesmanship flared up again. I really am growing a strong dislike for what seems like our first choice right back, and if he hadn't delivered a fantastic cross for the winner I would have been demanding to know why Hoyte was dropped.

The bad news that has tempered my mood following yesterday's huge win is that Robin van Beast, the lad who started our comeback, has broken his fifth metatarsal and it looks like we'll be without him until sometime in March. Considering he's our top scorer so far this season (and has weighed in heavily with assists as well) it's a body blow to the rest of our season, and my flat mate Jim the bindipper must be regretting not taking me up on £20 bet to see who would score more this season, RvP or Sloth's ugly brother (Dirk Kuyt for the remedial amongst you). I thought Robin's goal was the pick of the three yesterday, less for the finish, which was quality, but more for the way that Rosicky and Cesc battled to win the ball on the right hand side. More of that please lads.

So, the Spuds midweek in the League Cup. Shrek senior is already moaning about decisions that went against his (completely outclassed) side when we met last in the league, expect more before the game on Wednesday. I hope we send out the same side that destroyed Liverpool in the League Cup and give the Spuds' first XI a tanking.

Come on you Gunners.