Nightmares of Given, Hamburg Next

Without a doubt Shay Given was the main reason that we only pulled off a draw against Newcastle. Sure, you can blame Eboue all you want for giving too much space to Dyer, but we had a wealth of great shots that should have seen the back of the net. Given was superb, and thus I’m sure he is haunting Arsene’s thoughts. Perhaps even with an extra set of arms given his performance.

Ahead of Hamburg there is news that Gallas has been injured in training. And it could be several weeks, even until Christmas. That’s not good news but we have two others capable of his place. I hope to see Senderos ahead of Djourou because I think it’s a long time coming for the balding beauty. The way he grimaces for a full 90 minutes is the sign of a true fullback. We also won’t see him rushing forward so much, hopefully preventing slip-ups like that against Newcastle. It looks as though Van Persie will be ready to play though.

Arsene has recently stated that he is looking to find that winning feeling again. Surprisingly enough, our French coach dislikes losing… a lot. Hey me too, Arsene! I trust you’re doing all you can to get us into a winning streak again. We don’t seem to be too far from it really, we just need to not give up that first goal and sink more of our shots.

The match against Hamburg is of considerable importance. Because of Henry’s disallowed goal we are in much more dire straits than we should be. We need to pull off a win at home and there is no option of slipping up this time. Hamburg has been in exceptionally poor form in both the Champion’s League and the Bundesliga.

Looking to the next Champion’s League game we will be playing away at Porto. This Portuguese has looked strong both internationally and domestically, so we shouldn’t joke around with that match. There are all sorts of combinations in which we can get through to the knock-out round, or not, but needless to say we really need to just win both of these matches.

Adu has started his 2 week trial with Manchester United. Hopefully he will play the best football of his life for the next two weeks so that we can see an (edit: not born) American-bred in a top four team. I’m an optimist, but I’m also a realist, thus I’ll hope for the best but expect United to drop him like a bad habit. I know that he at least has more drive than Landy-cakes Donovan, so that’s a plus. I’d much rather have someone pursuing the best game possible representing U.S. soccer than that beach dwelling lazy-ass PrimaDonovan.

Come on Arsenal!