Gunnerrific

The Mirror has a delightful tidbit on our feisty German keeper.

Arsenal’s quick tempered keeper studied the Knigge Guide, an 18th Century German handbook on how to treat others, during the last international get-together.

I don’t know how to take this. I am used to seeing Jens Lehmann screaming at the top of his lungs with veins popping at of his neck, about 6 inches away from an opponent’s face, waving a giant puffy-gloved finger at his nose. How could he possibly need lessons in etiquette? It just doesn’t make sense to me!

The best part of this tiny article however is the last sentence, right underneath the absolutely-fucking-huge advertisement.

Now presumably Jens knows which hand to use when slapping opponents who dare to come within five yards of him.

There’s a correct hand to use when slapping someone? And what’s this about slapping, Lehmann only uses his fist to smash away balls and skulls.

The Knigge guide was written in 1788 by a German writer and freemason, Adolf Freiherr Knigge. Apparently, this book On Human Relations, is the “authoritative guide to behaviour, politeness, and etiquette.” Hot damn. I can’t imagine that etiquette and human interaction has changed in the slightest over the last two centuries. I expect that after matches Lehmann will now be gifting opposing goalkeepers with a chicken and a sack of fine sugar.

Arsene Wenger has stated that he will NOT add any players to the squad in January. I think this is yet another example of class from our French boss. Managers like Mourinho and Ferguson, regardless of how good they are doing or what their teams look like, usually fiddle around with their squads due to personal conflict or owner intervention. We’ll have none of that, right? Our squad is looking great, and I couldn’t imagine taking anyone away, or even bringing anyone in to upset the balance.

I have added yet another wallpaper to the site. I’d like to present to you The Best Robin Van Persie Wallpaper on The Internet. Enjoy this. I’ve also changed the most recent red/gold wallpaper, and will be uploading a variant at some point per some suggestions in the comments.

We’ve got West Brom in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. The squad line-up is pretty tame as we are resting several of our older and more experienced players to give Albion a chance. No Gilberto, Henry, or Lehman, but the list still looks vicious. The biggest bit is that our Swiss Army Knife Senderos is supposed to start. As far as I know, there is absolutely no way for me to watch this game. This will be the first match I have missed in nearly a year. That’s what you get when you live in the States and it’s a smaller fixture. Anybody in the UK with a slingbox want to hook me up?

Right. So we put on a football clinic for Reading over the weekend, and we face WBA (West Bromwich Albion) on Tuesday in the Carling Cup. West Brom’s currently 3rd in the Championship but they shouldn’t pose any real problems.

I’ve added a new wallpaper to the site. Have a look and enjoy.

I’d love to write a bit about more about the match but I think I covered more than enough in my last post. To sum it up our performance was so good that if we can maintain that type of play, we’ll be winning the title this year. We’re sitting in 4th with a game in hand, and a great scoring record. Henry is also now second in the league as top scorer with 5 goals thus far.

Around the Premeirship, Manchester United handed a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, and now share the top spot with Chelsea. Rafa Benitez, Liverpool’s coach, is running into serious problems with way too many squad change and a complete mis-use of what I think is the best English footballer today, Steven Gerrard. With the way United and Chelsea could barely handle Reading, I think we’re serious contenders this year.

Wenger has come out again asking for video replays to be incorporated into the game. Hell’s yes! In the amount of time it took that jack-ass referee to give Henry a yellow card for a made-up hand ball, a video replay ref or two would have confirmed the goal. It wouldn’t take a damn thing away from the game. FIFA, get off your high horse and fix this problem. It’s just getting worse with every incident.

All of you Americans out there might be wondering what the hell the Carling Cup is… well I’ll tell you. The ‘League’ Cup is a competition involving all 72 English teams from the English Championship, League One, and League Two, as well as all 20 teams in the English Premiership. It can be summarized as a basic single-elimination ladder style tournament involving the top 92 English football clubs. Now you know. It’s important to understand the different competitions out there, otherwise you’ll get lost. I’ll do a write-up some day on the basics of the Champion’s League (European Cup), Carling/League Cup, the F.A Cup, and normal league play. So much to do!

If you are enjoying any of my wallpapers thus far stay tuned… I’ve got a Robin Van Persie piece coming up next.

First Half

It started just one minute in with a beautiful strike on from Thierry Henry!!! Initiated with a great pass from our own territory by Gilberto, Cesc ultimately pushed the ball to the top of the box from a deep position within Reading’s box. It was a skillful one-timer for Henry to finish and put us up for what would be the rest of the match.

Henry lost possession while running at the defense at 2:55. The move was nearly promising, but ultimately disappointing. So close. In the 4th Fabregas had a shot on goal blocked after being released on the right with a short ball from Henry. This great chance could have easily been the second goal, and the game had just been played for five minutes. At 5:25, Lehmann got his first appearance and touch on the ball. The ref must have disallowed his knight’s helmet, but it looked like he did have knight’s helmet hair.

At 8:30 there was another flash of brilliant play along the right from Hleb, Rosicky, and Gilberto that ultimately gave Henry an open outside-of-the-box opportunity that rolled low and left. Had it been Rosicky maybe The Cannon would have been on target?

As the game moved on, Djourou escaped luckily after a mis-touch narrowly and accidentally (!) nutmegged a Reading striker. At this point Arsenal was dominating with 65% possession with just 10 minutes on the clock.

In the 11th Van Persie took a solo effort with a shot that missed just wide to the right on the counter-attack. Then at 16:20 Toure stabbed at the offense slowing down a counter-attack, and then headed the ball back into midfield from an early cross. Kolo was in his best form all night.

Three minutes later the ref had a small conversation with Stephen Hunt about a late challenge deep in our end. It was nice to see that he wasn’t going to tolerate shit from the goalie-remover. In a strange twist, Reading began to chant Jose Mourinho’s name as a taunt for his comments after last weeks match. What a bunch of cunts. But they are making fun of Mourinho… tough call.

In the 22nd there was some trickery between Gallas, Henry, and Cesc that lead to a point blank shot along the left from Gallas. Ultimately it was parried away by the American keeper’s chest. Passing in and around the box had been perfect and entertaining for us as chants of Arsenal could be heard in the 24th.

There was some sloppiness moments later as Gilberto tripped up in the box giving Reading a corner. The corner was tipped away by Lehmann and he was then forced to make a brilliant jumping save after immediately getting up. The next corner was then hit off target.

Van Persie then did well to dance around the defense on the left but takes a shot entirely too wide and high. Great individual skill but a poor finish.

Some how in the 29th a play was developed that allows Hoyte of all people through on the right. His shot ran low far wide to the left all the way across the box. The fact that Hoyte made it this far up was a bad sign for Reading. Then, there was a lovely play between Djourou and Lehmann in the back, but then Gallas gave the ball away horribly with an errant pass. The play fizzled with Lehmann scooping up the ball to a rushing Stephen Hunt, but not without Lehmann pointing his finger in Hunt’s face and giving him an earful.

A great chance developed from a Fabregas cut inside to Van Persie. The shot ultimately had little power and went for the keeper’s arms. The right side of Reading’s defense was crumbling under the pressure of Arsenal’s continuous runs and passes.

Henry earned a free kick at the 38th by nearly breaking through three Reading defenders. The announcers were talking serious shit, saying that Henry was ‘looking for something’. Horse shit. Van Persie’s free kick was a shot that ended several yards high, completely wasting the opportunity.

Hleb nailed home our second with a stunner in the end of the 39th. The Build-up came all the way from a thrown-in and ended with a Fabregas one-two to put Hleb in on the right. The shot deflected off the arm of the keeper but he had no chance. Amazing.

Justin Hoyte had a great game and single handedly shut down a threatening cross in the 40th. He played strong and close, not allowing the Reading defense any room.

Van Persie did well at the 41st to skip around the defenders on the left but his perfectly placed cross was met by a serious lack of red shirts. Hleb was also looking fantastic as he sprinted to pressure the defense from the midfield just afterwards. Strangely enough VP11 and TH14 were nowhere to be found, so the pressure from Hleb was needed.

As the half-ended we were up 2-0 and looked like upping the goal count even further in the second. The first half saw two attempts and only one shot on target from Reading, while Arsenal had eleven shots and five on goal.

Second Half

Late in the 47th Lehmann caught yet another corner from Reading. The second half had started with much less activity than the first, but this wouldn’t last long as Arsenal were looking to add more goals to their current tally.

At the start of the 49th we had another brilliant play from Henry to Hleb to Van Persie ending in a great goal. There was no stopping The Arsenal at this point as Robin Van Persie chants filled the stadium. VP11 had little to do with the finish by the time he was given the ball as he was nearly dead center 3 yards out with the keeper nowhere to be found. We were passing so brilliantly through their defense that they looked like statues.

Reading nearly equalized on the turnaround with a late cross that almost ended in an own goal from Gallas as he stabbed at it with his foot. The ball dribbled across the net and out for another failed corner.

Henry had another shot on target as he was put through by the industrious Fabregas at 53:30. The American keeper Marcus Hahnemann did well to parry the shot wide and Rosicky flubbed the rebound attempt. Rosicky’s attempt should have been a goal if not for Hahnemann’s well timed and fearless save.

Reading had more opportunities throughout but were unable to finish when it mattered.

Henry played a purely magnificent through ball into the box, weighted with precision, to Fabregas at the 70th. Hahnemann did well to come out but just caught too much of Fabregas for the ref not to not call for a penalty. Henry netted a powerful shot off the post low and to the right. Hahnemann had no chance. Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry.

One minute later Hahnemann shined yet again and prevented a Rosicky strike from slipping past. At this point it looked like Hahnemann was doing all the work for Reading. He prevented another Henry strike from finding the back of the net at the 72nd as well.

Walcott and Adebayor came on late in the second for Hleb and Van Persie respectively (although the order was switched, oddly enough). Both players looked great for the rest of the match, adding some relief to the tiring team.

Alex Song came on for Rosicky in the 77th, and I’ve no fucking idea why. His movement off the ball is at times intrusive, and on the ball he looks lost for ideas. His performance today confirmed that. Note that after he came on, Reading experienced their most possession and opportunity for the remaining 13 minutes. Can one man, even Song for Hleb, have an affect like that? I think so.

From the 88th to the 92nd minute, Arsenal were just torturing Reading with smart and consistent passes that made up for a lengthy period of possession. You could have even called it rude of us.

The final whistle blew and Reading was finally put out of their misery. 4-nil to the Arsenal.

Player Recap

Rosicky looked tireless throughout the match. He pursued balls and created chances consistently.

Gilberto did well to clean up after the defense when there were problems. There weren’t many, but his role is crucial to our success. He had some errant passes like the Moscow match, which were a bit worrisome at times, but hopefully he can overcome this in matches to come.

Fabregas was integral in nearly ever attempt. His holding game is improving and he is still connecting beautiful running-on passes with the forwards. His post match comments sum it up:

All the team played really well, especially in the first half. We played some very good football and we were lucky to get the first goal early in the game because the confidence is quite high at the moment. When we play like that, I don’t think a lot of teams can do anything about it against Thierry and players like that. The important thing was that we played as a team, we defended as a team and we’re really happy with the performance today.

Henry looked as masterful as ever, but perhaps came down too hard on his players. I like that he is talking to his team after failed attempts, but I don’t know that his body language inspires confidence. Henry stated that this win wasn’t a message to the league leaders.

Theo Walcott is really, really fast. Speedy Gonzalez fast. He’s like The Flash.

Toure was great in the back and his recent form has just been getting better and better. His injury scare sidelined him for a couple of minutes but after rubbing some dirt on it he walked it off.

Man of the Match

I’m going to go for Alex Hleb as my man of the match. He scored the second and created the third, essentially burying the hatchet. He was consistent and I’m not even sure he had any turn-overs or failed passes. And then when Song came on for him the game drastically changed for the worse.

Lehmann the Dark Knight, ready for Reading. For Mr. Arseblogger of course.

Oh Pointy, pointy. Anointy nointy.

With Saturday’s matches being finished the dust has settled to reveal Everton and Aston Villa jumping above Arsenal in the standings. Not a big worry as both teams immediately above us are 2 games ahead at the current moment. Having said that, if we take a full 3 points on Sunday at Reading and Blackburn can manage a win against Bolton at home, we’ll be in a comfortable third position on goal difference.

Reading have troubled both Manchester United and Chelsea this season, so I don’t expect this to be an easy game. That being said, I think we can still manage to leave the Madejski Stadium with a win. It’s all up to Wenger to get the team ready, select the right squad, and then make sure the men are in their best frame of mind.

I’d like to see Henry and Adebayor up front. Adebayor’s physical strength and strong aerial presence should help against a team like Reading. With Ljungberg still out from the worthless International qualifiers I suspect we’ll see Gilberto, Fabregas, Rosicky, and Hleb along the midfield. The defense could be unchanged with youngster Hoyte, the formidable Toure, and Djourou and Gallas stepping in. We’ve also got Senderos back, so here’s hoping we’ll see a sub on in the second. I don’t know if Clichy is quite ready for a start so the same could be said for him. However, according to the BBC pre-match news, Clichy will get his first start of the season.

If Reading play a high line, we’ll easily break through on long lead passes to our speedsters. On the other hand if Reading play back and try to just hold the fort, maybe we could see another cannon-like strike from Rosicky. The most important key to winning this match is to make sure our passes are connecting consistently. In the Moscow match we were turning the ball over left and right.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Bobby Convey, the American midfielder, and Marcus Hahnemann (Read this article!), the American goalkeeper, for Reading. Although I hope we walk all over Reading like a marching band, I’d still like to see Convey play a good match. The only way the U.S. will ever match the rest of the world in the beautiful game is if we have regular starters in the European leagues. It’s started with the Premiership, and that will always be the obvious league to head to given a lack of language difference. I previously mentioned rumors of Claudio Reyna returning to New York City from Manchester City so hopefully Convey can help Reading create a lasting presence in the Prem.

Meanwhile we have news about the injury stricken Lauren from the club web site. He will still be out for several more months, likely the start of the new year in January, with his knee injury being more severe than anyone had thought. This will mean that the right back hasn’t seen action for approximately a year. It’s amazing how much one injury can affect the squad. Fortunately for us it has been in a positive light, with Eboue and Hoyte getting valuable first team experience.

I don’t think you will see Lauren in the team before January. He played up to the limit of his pain and then maybe he played a little too long. That created some damage in his knee which had to be repaired. But he is a tough, tough boy. He works hard and he will come back.

Make sure you check out the Arseblog Arsecast from Friday. Senor Arseblogger does an interview with Goodplaya and shares some news about the squad and the site. He also gives Reading FC a ring, fucking hilarious.

I’ve created a new wallpaper for all of you Arsenal fans out there. All of the Arsenal wallpapers I have found on the internet are pretty lacking, so I think I will start a collection of my own. This first one is pretty basic. Some soothing grays and reds and a giant Arsenal emblem do the trick nicely I think. If you’d like to download it for your desktop just meander on over to my Wallpaper page and download whichever size you’d like.

Super Cescy footballer Francesc Fabregas has inked his eight-year deal with Arsenal that has been brewing for a month now. I’m thrilled about this. Watching this kid on the pitch is nothing short of enjoyable. If he plays like this now, just imagine how he will progress. He’s also been completely injury free for quite awhile now, so perhaps he is a resilient little bugger. Now that I’ve said this I have completely jinxed him though, and he’ll likely become the second victim to Stephen Hunt’s vicious knee bone. Now that I’ve said this though, it has been un-jinxed.

Having Cesc until 2014 could be too good to last. He can always move somewhere else if the club agrees to it. However, his deserved affection and appreciation for Arsene Wenger suggests that he really is just an over-all good guy.

“I wanted to pay back the club, especially Arsene Wenger for the support and faith he has shown in me. What is important now is for the team to realise its potential and win trophies. That is our main aim, that is my aim as well.”

Sweet and to the point. Well said Cesc.

Ahead of my match review on Saturday we have received word that there are no new injuries to the first squad. About time! The existing injured players are still out, so we won’t see Ljungberg, Eboue, Baptista, Lauren, or Diaby. We should be alright for Reading on Sunday though, especially if Senderos is ready for duty. Let’s just hope we can avoid any injuries and play our passing football around them. I’ll enjoy watching American Bobby Convey in midfield for Reading, primarily because he is American… playing in the Premiership… kind of a big deal.

And on the opposite side of Americans in the Prem, Midfielder Claudio Reyna is set to return to the states after his spell with Manchester City. What a wanker. I don’t know the reasons yet, but anytime an American willingly leaves the premiership, it’s bad news.