Gunnerrific

I’ve uploaded a new wallpaper today. Take a gander.

It’s a basic Arsenal emblem with a lot of extra flare. I added a shaded red background for dramatic effect. The emblem itself has a golden sheen to it which I think comes across quite well. Download it and show it with pride!

It’s been quite a slow news day so I’ll just have to settle with recapping previous events. Manchester United and Chelsea are tied at the top with the exact same record thus far. Rooney had a hat trick at Bolton, so he is back in great form which should worry the rest of the league. Chelsea still find ways to get goals regardless of the opposition or style of play. If Manchester United and Chelsea keep stomping over other teams like this, the title race will only be between the two of them. We only have a couple of games to win to be caught up, but we can’t do that without resolving these stray goals and finishing problems. Goonerboy sums it up well.

There has been a swarm of rumors around Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool. The news sites say that all sorts of teams are interested, and that Rafa and Gerrard are even fighting. This is just what Liverpool need while being at the middle of the table and having problems winning matches. Rumors like this always hurt a team and can have a direct impact on performance. I for one would love to see Gerrard at Arsenal, but I don’t know that he is really going to leave Liverpool any time soon. I know I’m only perpetuating the rumor mill by mentioning it, but I don’t like that stories like this top the headlines on slow days.

And finally, Arsene has recently stated that he isn’t worried about discussing a new contract with the club. I don’t really know what to make of this, other than it is what it is. I can’t imagine the club without him, so I hope he’ll stay. I don’t think he would leave because the Frenchman really seems to enjoy life at the club and in London.

We’ve got Moscow at home Wednesday. Here’s hoping we don’t finish that match with 5 strikers on the pitch!

EDIT: This story was posted several days ago but somehow NewsNow only recently picked it up.

According to this article Henry thought he heard boos coming from the fans. I hope not. Our good friend over at The Cannon, who was at the match, explains the story in further detail. Go, read, and be merry.

At any rate, seeing Henry talk about how he doesn’t like being booed isn’t healthy. The fact that he even thinks this is the case is bad enough, but now he feels so bad about it that he is reaching out to the fans via the press. Fair enough. I’d like to guarantee that I won’t boo him at the next match but 1) I won’t be there and 2) I would never boo him. Hopefully the real Arsenal (those that actually go to the matches) feel the same way. Burnsy and MT both commented in my previous post/recap on the match basically stating the same thing. Let’s just get this horse shit behind us and move onwards. Come on Arsenal!

At the club site Henry talks about how he is unconcerned about the league leaders at the moment. He cites, like I have, the fact that we have a game in hand and that we can likely beat the leaders at home (and potentially away in Chelsea’s sake). I agree Theirry, I wholeheartedly agree. I’m just waiting for Chel$ea and ManUre to fudge up and drop some points in the near future here. Then, we’ll take our game in hand and be in good standing.

In “Whaaaaa?” news, I found quite an interesting aricle over at ESPNsoccernet about Internet porn addiction running rampant in the Premiership. WTF? Of all the things I can think of that wealthy football players would be addicted to, porn isn’t even on the list. Weed, liquor, coke, sex… football… Yeah, Porn isn’t anywhere on the list. I’d like to see the statistics and names behind this article before I really believe it. I’m sure Ashley Cole is one of the most heinous offenders. That wanker’s right fore-arm is the size of my thigh, nevermind his jerking fist.

THIS IMAGE IS A JOKE AND NO ONE SHOULD REALLY BE OFFENDED BY IT

Well it was a disappointing match today as Arsenal drew at home with Everton. We dominated possession with a whopping 70% to 30% according to the official statistics. We outshot them 29 to 2. So how’d we draw?

In the end, I think it stems from a lack of finishing. We just didn’t have the ability today to get the ball beyond the keeper. The play and passing were both outstanding. Meanwhile, the shots were well taken and generally on target. We just couldn’t find the net enough to give us full points.

I’m worried about this type of game. Our opponent goes up by one, and then they just sit and defend. It’s the sort of thing any team can do, so Wenger needs to find a way to break it. One of the things that Chelsea has always done well is find goals. It doesn’t matter against who, or how, but they find goals. I think that in matches like this, when the opposing team hunkers down to withstand our quick and sharp play, we need to find some other way to get that win.

Van Persie’s free kick was spectacular. Henry did well to let him take this with his stronger left foot. The shot barely broke over the wall and then curled right just out of reach of the keeper. And just 20 minutes from time.

I’m glad to see that the goalie that held us so well is from the U.S., at least. In my match preview you can see that I mentioned both Cahill and Howard, who were really the only two in between us and a full three points. Cahill’s goal was lucky after an awkward touch that ended up right at this feet, righ tin front of goal.

As a result of this match we have dropped from 4th down to 5th. Time for concern? Absolutely not. We’ve still got a game in hand and we are playing exceptional football. All that’s left to do is be consistent, and find goals in overly defensive games like this.

Please feel free to post your thoughts as to how we let this one get away from us.

First off, the BBC appears to be behind the times with their recent article on Lauren being out until January at the earliest. I mentioned this back on the 21st, so the BBC must be out of news for for us Gunners.

We’ve got Everton Saturday morning. Here’s how you can catch the game in the States:

Sat Oct 28 06:55AM Pacific
Setanta Xtra (DirecTV Channel 670)

Sat Oct 28 12:00PM Pacific
Setanta Sports USA

Sat Oct 28 08:00PM Pacific
Setanta Sports USA

Mon Oct 30 01:00PM Pacific
GolTV (US)
Arsenal TV – English Premier League

I’ll be catching the match at The Lion and Rose in San Antonio.

I suspect that we’ll see TH14 and VP11 starting up front with Adebayor out. Cesc, Hleb, Gilberto, and Rosicky should fill out the midfield as they have been doing a bang-up job at controlling play and creating chances. Senderos just played in mid-week, so I suspect he’ll still need to wait for a start in the Prem. I’d love to see Toure, Gallas, Djourou, and Hoyte. Why mess with success? This team should be pretty well rested from last week’s thrashing of Reading.

Theo Walcott deserves some time on the pitch as well. Right now we have a fantastic problem… too many good options on the bench. It’s a problem we’ve not had in awhile, but right now I feel like Arsene could just throw darts at a dart board and be fine for the match. Not really, that could be a bad idea.

The Blues thrashed Luton on Tuesday with what was pretty much their first squad. One could venture to guess that they might not be completely match-fit yet. I’ll be keeping one eye on Tim Cahill, the Australian International who played well during the World Cup and has been a real asset for Everton. The other non-Arsenal eye will be sharply focused on Tim Howard, the American Goalkeeper ousted from Manchester United who has since been a ball-magnet for Everton.

The match will be played at Emirates, which was just officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. Apparently the Queen pulled her back in a nasty tackle with Stephen Hunt so she had to cancel. Coming off of such a great win, having such excellent recent form, and playing at home, I think this one is safe to call a win. Depending on how the rest of the matches go, we’ll end up somewhere between 3rd and 7th. Bolton, in 3rd, is playing Manchester at the Reebok Stadium. For once I’ll be rooting for the Reds. With a win they’d end up further in front, but I think that getting into the 3rd spot is what we need right now. United will drop points down the road. Oh yes, they will.

Make sure you check out Arseblog today. Download the arsecast and enjoy a delightful aural treat that includes a fine discussion with East Lower.

Also, for the first time since inception, I won’t be posting on Gunnerrific on Friday. I’m flying late to San Antonio to see Ms. Gunnerrific, so I’ll be all tuckered out from the flight. Expect a doozy of a match-recap on Saturday though!

Jereme Aliadiere scored a brace to put us over West Brom. In both goals Aliadiere showed some style and class. It’s no big surprise to then find out that he is still pushing for a first-team place. Aliadiere (pronounced Ah-lee-ah-dee-air-ee) has been with the club longer than anyone else, save for good ol’ Freddie Ljungberg. He joined the club at 16, and is now just 23. Everyone should appreciate this young man’s tenacity and love for the Arsenal. Despite being out on loan here and there, having a bad string of injuries, and never having much of a first team chance, he has stuck to it. Hopefully things will work out and he will work his way up some day.

Adebayor is out for 3 or so weeks after sustaining an injury early in the West Brom match. That’s not good, but given Theo’s progress and Baptista as an alternate, we still have a solid 3+ potential strikers to select from. One article I found on the subject had by far the worst pun on a name that I have seen. We’ve got an Adebay-sore. *cringe*

After the win we drew Everton for the fourth round of the League Cup on November 6th. We play Everton on Saturday in league play, so we’ll see more of the Blues than normal in the next month. Everton are currently 6th in the Prem and have been in good form as of late. I suspect that with Adebay-sore (Get it!!!) out and Ljungberg still recovering, I bet we’ll be seeing more of Theo Walcott than normal.

Footballing World has an interesting piece on Matty Flamini. To sum it up, he states that Flamini has doomed himself by refusing to play defense and asking to see more midfield time. Mr. Wigmore then goes on to predict that Flamini could be on his way out at the New Year or the summer. I couldn’t agree more, but I hate doing it. Flamini worked tirelessly last season, and he was key in reaching 4th and making it to the Champion’s League finals. I hope he would stick around as a couple of injuries is all it would take for him to see a solid start again, but he is probably not content with that. This is one Arsenal fan that hopes to see Flamini stay on the team.

And last, but certainly not least, Andrea Canales has written up some suggestions for MLS decision makers on how to succeed. Who gives a flying fuck? It would be one thing if she wrote some suggestions on how to turn American soccer around, but we have been reduced to the pure drivel of how to ‘succeed’ in the MLS. The way I see it, there is no success in the MLS. It’s a boring league, there’s no competition, and it ultimately amounts to nothing.

She offers insightful hints like rewarding the fans with free parking. Yeah, free parking… that will get the public interested. Another completely unheard of idea is to bench players that don’t behave on the pitch. Pure genius. Oh, and make sure that you rotate your players around so that no one becomes too tired. Jesus, why haven’t MLS decision makers thought of these unheard of ideas before? Oh how it pains me to see articles like this. And it’s because of this horribly uninteresting piece that I’ll be writing an article on what I think American soccer *should* do to gain ground on the rest of the world. Any article about how to succeed in the MLS is just masturbatory.

Two Chelsea fans (jerks) somehow managed to make it past Chelsea’s security guards (idiots) into the squad’s changing room (nursery). They then proceeded to ‘borrow’ (steal) John Terry’s (Captain Underpants) boots. Great idea! (Fucking idiots.) To all you Chelsea fans, please make sure to steal the whole squad’s boots ahead of the Arsenal fixture on December 10th. No show of support equals that of the theft of vital football equipment. I’m sure Terry’s boots were thrilled about this brief escape from his smelly, foul feet. Brilliant.