Our Season begins here!

Our Arsenal is starting their season this weekend against Swansea. A few weeks back prior to the Newcastle game I wrote on this blog that it doesn’t feel like the season for us has started. Of course it felt like we spent the pre-season travelling round the world and the Newcastle, Liverpool, Udinese and Manchester United Games were the pre season games we needed. Our team had several players who either were itching to leave; Nasri, Fabregas, Denilson, Bendtner, Clichy and others who had to leave; Eboue, Traore and a couple of youngsters from the reserves and others who we all wanted to leave but never have; Almunia, Squillacci. Well, fast forward three league games, Champions league qualification and the end of the transfer market leaves us one point out of nine, a champions league spot with tricky opponents as usual, three red cards, several exists, several ins and of course injury to key men Jack Wilshere and Thomas Vermaelen.

This weekend I feel like our Season is about to start. Of course you cannot say it’s been a woeful start simply because we lost 8-2 at Old Trafford. Our sorry decline towards the end of the season meant we needed to have the playoffs for a Champions League spot against the ‘best’ of the pack: Udinese and playing both games just few hours after losing Fabregas and Nasri respectively to Barcelona and Manchester City. We passed that test well and ensured we are playing the very lucrative Champions league this season. Against United, it was always going to be a sorry score line; they had played less games than we plus the endless suspensions and injuries plaguing our team. Did that make for the five additions to our team just before the end of the transfer window? I can’t say but Arsene always said he was in the market for players to strengthen his team.

Looking at all additions, there is no one of them including Jerkinson and AOC that I don’t rate as quality additions. Cesc was leaving and we needed a replacement for him. Question: Who would readily sip into the team; play the Cesc role and who won’t need time to acclimatize to the premiership? Answer: Mikel Arteta So, Arsenal picks him up. Physical presence and technique in Defence like everyone thinks we need? Who else but a 6ft 6inches German Center back rated as the cleanest defender in the world? Super Sub who can open up defences and armed with loads of premiership experience? Who else but the Israeli Yossi? We all have a foretaste of what Gervinho can do and I also believe Santos would be a befitting cover at Left Back. In all, I rate our transfers perfect.

The negative media against us may never cease and for this I call on gooners the world over to support this team. If you join the bandwagon who see nothing but endless misery and doom for the Arsenal including certain former ex players then you cannot call yourself a true fan. Our season begins here and I think like Arteta said: We can even win the league. Santos calls Arsenal his family already and for me I believe there is nothing this team cannot achieve. Common Gooners!!!

God bless Arsenal.  

Five days to go, two days to go first

 Im still wondering if our season has started; of course it has. On the eve of the new season it appeared our Arsenal was anything but ready. Well, the results and goings on in the club has not helped matters at all. Here we are in the brink of suspensions, injuries and departures of Home Sick trophy hungry Fabregas and Money Loving Nasri, a draw and a defeat and well on a brighter side Champions league qualification.

The boys were magnificient on Wednesday. Like I twitted later that night, 'they let the real talking be done on the Pitch'. Who says we still need a goalkeeper? Wojciech Szczesny looks set to be number one several years to come and what an awesome defender TV5 is. Well-done boys; I danced all night. 

Back to the present, our squad looks thin, Arsene has promised to strengthen my question is when? Now we face defending champions united on Sunday and the squad looks awfully thin. Any injury to Rosicky(who did well against Udinese on Wednesday) would be woeful. So why is Arsene not buying? Honestly I’ve defending him to the point that I cant anymore. It is however not the end of the window yet but it will soon and well we believe the additions will come pretty soon; in say five days. Well, I still think he is the best man for the job and our duty is to support him this weekend and always.

United know that Arsenal cannot be written off with or without Samir Nasri or Cesc Fabregas. Lets hope the boys do the playing again on the pitch like they did on Wednesday and salvage some good result. I guess I will be crowned the most optimistic gooner to predict an away win. Why? Because that’s what I want! Enjoy the game from wherever you watch it from.

God bless Arsenal

Welcome to the New Season.

Welcome to the New Season.

It’s a new season. Did you hear that? I said it’s a new season. It’s a new premiership season but hey to me it doesn’t really feel that way. I believe perhaps I am the only one feeling this way but honestly it doesn’t feel like the new season has started. Why? Because for the very first time, I don’t feel confident neither am I looking forward to this season. For the very first time, I am trying to learn what faith in a human being is. Most times I say things like ‘Keep the Faith’, ‘In Arsene we trust’ but honestly this is not giving a good feeling at all.

We were promised major signings in the summer and well; Gervinho, Alex Chamberlain and Carl Jekinson have all arrived and guess who left or are leaving? Not just the 41 year old Jens Lehmann only but Clichy, Denilson, Eboue, Bendtner, Alumunia, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, what should I say? Nothing but ‘well, lets see what happens’. Our first team is good enough maybe when all the players are fit and injury free but we know that hardly happens with Arsenal. I’m sorry I’m going into all these especially seeing that this was supposed to be a preview of our Newcastle game. Ok, I’m going to sound as positive as I can. We have Ryo Miyaichi, Aaron Ramsey, Frimpong, who else, yes Thomas Vermaelen who all look like new signings. Enough Sam!!!

We head to Newcastle and what a comical start of the season we have. It appears that the media, the fixtures, our fans and our opponents are all standing against Arsene and his boys. We are headed back to the stadium we ended a 4-0 half time lead at 4-4 with a referee who is (I’ll use a native tongue) onye iberibe. It’s time the boys prove their worth and stand up against the opposition coming from all corners. We love this team and we can only hope we will achieve something beautiful this year with or without the departing stars.

The team should pick itself but the notable absentees would be Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere meaning Ramsey, Rosicky and Gervinho should all start with the younger of our Polish keepers in goal. Van Persie and Vermaelen were all passed fit to play. I’ll predict a 2-0 away victory for us. I will watch from my home in south eastern Nigerian State of Abia today hoping for nothing but the very best. I’ll keep muttering it under my breath, In Arsene We Trust.

God bless Arsenal.  

What a Summer

Its easier to join the bandwagon of Arsenal fans, friends and supporters in whining of the team’s performance at the just concluded Emirates Cup at the weekend. Its been kinda quite on this blog because we are keenly watching the Transfer activity and pre season patiently waiting for the curtain raiser in the next few days.

The biggest concern with Arsenal fans ahead of the new season and the performance at the Emirates cup is largely on the fact that it appears we are unable to hold onto leads, kill games off and well, defend like other teams. From what I know of Arsenal, we have not really been a very defensive team. Unlike perhaps the 2006 Champion’s league season where we still hold Champions League clean sheets but in the league, we are a club that ever so often gifts the opposition goals. I remember the Leicester Arsenal game that ended 3-3. This team surely would concede goals but the right focus should probably be to score more and put the points in games beyond the reach of the opposition.

From the way we play; teams most of the time sit back and defend. We probe and probe, trying to find gaps and almost all the players are involved. If however at some point we lose possession of the ball, there is panic because all of a sudden we are on the back foot, certain players are out of position and probably are not even aware of their defensive duties. As this season starts, there is a lot of pressure on manager, board, players and some of us true gooners. Arsene has promised to buy but a closer look will let you see that there are a number of promising youngsters itching to play. Worthy mention is our own goal scorer last Sunday; Kyle Bartley. A player I admire a lot and was very excited as he entered the fray on Sunday. What a sour baptism he had, but ‘hey don’t let that get you down buddy, you will come good I’m sure’.

I will advise gooners to do just what I am going to do this season- Have a little faith. Let us support our team and the club because in reality, no one else will do that for us. It will be a good season with our without Fab and Nasri.

God bless Arsenal.  

A Cescond Season for you, Fab

In recent times there have been transfer speculations that have lingered and lingered. I remember Owen Hargreaves to Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Jon Obi Mikel to Manchester United/Chelsea, etc for most of these rumours, papers write quotes and speculations linking player and club, agent, parent, etc. It is more like part of modern day football. Well, the one that hits me the most right now is our El Capito and his flirtations with Barcelona. 

Same Movement, Same Positioning, Barca DNA

Its the Barca DNA.

Every summer, the transfer market kicks off with Cesc - Barcelona rumours of course after being heightened in the course of the season by various write ups and quotes and make believes by either friends or club owners or Barcelona players or the inability of Arsenal to win a major trophy all these years.

We accept he was trained by Barcelona, we accept he was childhood friends with Messi and who else? Pique, Pep was his model and mentor and all that. No doubt and yes that he’s got a Barcelona DNA. Thank you very much. So how come you let such talent leave? In an Interview with television network Gol TV, Cesc had this to say of why he left Barca;

"At Barça, they used to renew your contract every year and there were players like Leo, Piqué and others who they really believed in.
I was average, not good, not bad. I was there but I wasn't one of those they expected to have a big future. They believed more in others than in me. So I decided that the best thing was to move, to change."

 How come you would not honour the club that brought him into the limelight, gave him regular starts with renowned players like Patrick Vieria, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp? Or the manager who resuscitated your so called talent with your DNA and nurtured him into what he is today.

Let’s even take a look at Barcelona today. Do they really need Cesc? I watched keenly how the Spain National Team fared at the last world cup in South Africa. Cesc had good doses of sitting time on the bench. Why? Because the same players who are inviting him to come win the world with them are also key members in the National Team; Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio! Honestly with what value Cesc is being placed by the rest of the world, I can’t imagine him displacing any one of them in that midfield. Listen, Cesc; these guys think you are average, not good, and not bad. Opting for Barcelona now means you sure are going to enjoy what the likes of Denilson, Eboue and Bendtner enjoy on the Arsenal Substitute’s bench. Imagine a Champions league finals and Cesc Fabregas is on the bench; interesting, if you ask me. All these rumours and speculations do well in unsettling a player. This is evident in Cesc’s displays last season. If you run away from a team you are captain of in search of greener pastures to win, then have you really won?

For this season, the Arsenal board has voiced that Cesc is not for sale; Barcelona thinks our captain is of the same worth as Andy Caroll. Wonderful! Cesc, wish you can see the handwriting on the wall because life at the camp Nou would not be an easy ride. Today’s news say Barca board pointing out that Cesc is doing all he can to get a move to Barcelona whereas only last week, he said he was happy at Arsenal.

We know you would return to Barca someday, but now just isn’t the right time.  

Who’s coming? Who’s Going??

Last week I told someone, ‘It looks like our Arsenal is a sinking Ship’. Life as an Arsenal fan has never been more dificult. You receive all kinds of taunts and yabs from other fans and sometimes from your own heart. It’s not been easy. You wonder, where did it go wrong? How did we lose that Carling Cup Final? How come we lose to Manchester United after Barcelona in the same week and got knocked out from the FA and Champions Leagues? Last season, was my worst season as a gooner.

Arsene tells us, The Players were fantastic and it was his fault. The players say it was their fault and not Le Boss’s. Wonderful! Well, its all our fault. The Players, The Manager, the Fans, the Board, the Referees.. just name it, we are all responsible. We all share the blame. Why? Because we all make up the Arsenal.

The much awaited summer is here and as usual, players are moving up and down. Bendtner and Denilson have openly voiced their opinions that they want out. Cesc, Clichy and Nasri also want out if you’re an ardent Arsenal news freak like I am. Some others may not voice their angers probably because they are tied down with a longer contract. Imagine maybe Van Persie, Vermaelen and Alex Song all wanting out, that would just be a disaster. So, what is the fate of our beloved team?

Arsene has promised to be ‘busy’ this summer and someone teased, he sure is busy pricing players only to watch them sold to other clubs. Already numerous players like Cahill, Samba, Matuidi, Eto, Gervinho, Enrique, Douglas Costa and a host of others I never even knew existed.

Well, one thing is certain, if there is a man who can ‘fix’ this, it is Arsene himself. Don’t forget however of his characteristic shrewdness in the transfer market. The signings might not be the ‘big’ names you might dream of but players he believes will fit into the Arsenal way. Let us trust Arsene yet again, why? Because he is the number one Arsenal fan in the world. This Arsenal Ship will not sink, there are better days ahead.

Welcome

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for stopping by. I gotta start by introducing myself and what this blog is all about.

I am Gooner BigSam. Simple, Short! I am an Arsenal fan who incidentally have only been to the Emirates in my dreams and on TV. This Blog is all about Arsenal. Arsene Wenger, His Team, Game Previews, Reviews, Injury Updates, Expectations and every other thing relating our beloved Arsenal.

However, I am not going to be criticizing Wenger and his decisions. Who he should buy and who he shouldn't. I am rather going to be a gooner who is guarded by those words: IN ARSENE I TRUST.

Feel free to stop by as often as possible and make your comments and reprimands.

Welcome to Gunning with Arsene and His Boys. Welcome to the Arsenal.

Gooner BigSam