We have top players and sorry if I'm arrogant, now, we have a top manager. I'm European champion and I am the special one. Haha! I’ve always wanted to say that and now I can courtesy of Football Manager. Needless to say, FM has taken over my life. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t even think straight without it. Thank you very much, Demetris Kyprianou & Joe Husson for ruining me.
Howdy Gooners!
It’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog and I must say, I’m still laughing at the sight of John Terry being left on his knees chewing grass like a donkey. Thanks again to Ryan Sparrowhawk. Ledge:
This month has seen yet another round of boring, meaningless, international friendlies; a period of immense boredom for football fans up and down the country and endless nail-biting as they eagerly pray for a clean bill of health from any returning players. Delighted to say that we seem to have got through OK, though we did pick up unfortunate injuries to Kieran Gibbs and Carlos Jenkinsinho. I do worry about the former. I wonder if he’ll ever complete an injury free spell. No doubt he’s a decent player, with huge potential, but injuries look to be dominating his career thus far. Maybe Arsene needs to part with him. I don’t know.
Normal service is slowly being resumed at the Emirates, not that you’d know judging by the poor media coverage – particularly MOTD – do they hate us or what!? I mentioned previously that the sensationalist headlines during our bad spell were totally unjust yet nobody has mentioned our improved sequence of results since our lame defeat at Ewood:
W W W L W W W W W D W W W
Let's not get carried away like Harry Redneck on an ambulance... we are not challenging for the title at this current time. And no, neither are you, Spuds.
On second thoughts, maybe it’s a good thing to be out of the spotlight – you know, just lurking in the background, quietly going about our job whilst the media tear up AVB, or cover City for being on the verge of being dumped out of Europe or Sir Alex Ferguson who’s cracking up in press conferences!
Since my last blog, we have beaten West Brom 3-0 at the Emirates and Norwich City 2-1 on the road. Our match against West Brom showed glimpses of the old Arsenal. Mesmerising football, some pass and move almost unplayable at times, albeit against lesser opposition. Mikel Arteta, the beautiful man that he is, scoring a memorable third goal which had Arsenal written all over it. Pass, pass, pass, pass, lay-off and BANG. Laaavly.
Thanks to my good friends, Joanne Laura Foster and Tracey Ilett, I was given the opportunity to go to Carrow Road for an away day against Delia’s clowns.
Not the best game of football, though we squandered several good opportunities in the first half thanks to some crazy goal-line defending by some fat bloke. Another fat bloke put the Canaries ahead after Big Per scuffed his clearance and did his impression of John Terry. We got back in the game courtesy of some neat work by Theo on the flank. He raced past a poor challenge by a fat bloke to drive the ball across the 6-yard box and RVP tapped into an empty net. The winner came in the second half. Alex Song picked up a loose ball and drove forward to play in RVP on his chocolate leg. One touch, a delicate chip over the keeper and the travelling fans go bananas!
Last night we hosted German champions, Borussia Dortmund. A very flat first half performance by both teams followed by a scrappy, tight second half only to be graced by magic from Alex Song. Allegedly a central defensive midfielder, he picks up the ball and dances past three players before placing the ball perfectly on RVP’s head for the opener. Magic. I remember Fulham away back in 2006, he was described as ‘a fish up a tree’ by pundits on Soccer Saturday and was even boo’d off by sections of support. What a remarkable transformation in five years. Credit to the boy, and to Arsene for believing in him. You know who went on to score another – from a corner! Yes, finally, a goal from a set-piece. And how it reminded us of the old school, Bould near-post, Adams back-post routines! The win sees us qualify (the first English club to do so) as group leaders, which could see us face any of: Napoli, Trabzonspor, Ajax, Zenit, AC Milan (as tables currently stand). Wouldn’t mind any of them but would love to see AC again.
Looking forward to the next handful of league games, I am quietly optimistic. Potential slip-ups at City and possibly Villa away, but home games all look winnable. An intriguing Carling Cup home-tie versus City also lies ahead with the return of Samir Nasri, ‘a Carling Cup player at best now’ (that coming from a City fan).
Onwards and upwards. Come you REDS x
