Gunnerrific

On the eve of Arsenal’s home match against Liverpool, emotion is running high in the Arsenal camp. At least it is for this supporter, and I can only imagine that the players feel are even more so. Winning this match will place us in third, recover any lost hope of competing for the title, and improve everyone’s over-all outlook for the rest of the season.

With Rosicky injured for the next 10 days, we’ll be playing a side and formation that is fairly untested against the Reds. I suspect we’ll see a more traditional 4-4-2 than the hazy 4-5-1 that we have been getting used to. When it gets down to it though, ultimately the formation won’t matter. What will matter is if movement is good, passes are accurate, and chances are created and capitalized upon.

The key to this match is going to be in controlling play in the midfield. We’ve got a young offensive minded play-maker in Cesc, and a stalwart defensive controller in Gilberto. With our current injury situation we’ll likely see Walcott, Hleb, or Flamini along the flanks. In this setup, I think Liverpool are a team that we could potentially get the upper hand on in the midfield.

They are likely to try to play our kind of football, without as much strength and pressure as some of the other premiership teams. If we can control the movement on and off the ball in the midfield, and we can keep an ample supply of balls into Van Persie and Henry, it will be in the strikers’ hands to finish the game off.
Our defensive line has seen some momentary lapses in the last month. If we’re going to win this game, the back four will have to make sure that there are no lapses at all. I’m hoping that Kolo Toure’s recent impressive form will help egg on the rest of the defenders. He’s been a manic juggernaut for us in the back line acting as a defensive authority with his precise tackling. He’s managed to cover for the team regardless of the situation and he has truly been consistent.

Speaking of consistency… that is the one thing that we have lacked this year, despite our impressive form. With a young team like this it just won’t been a guarantee that the players will play consistently. It’s to be expected though. With plenty of game time and age comes professionalism and consistency that every team needs, we just don’t have a whole lot of it right now. I’m interested to see what Arsene will do to counter-act this because if it continues like this surely something must change.

With Sissoko injured, Liverpool will be playing a bit of a make-shift midfield. However, I think this will mean that Gerrard will be in the center, which is a bad thing for us. Gerrard is dominant player who is both creative and strong on the ball. Lehmann will hopefully be keeping his eye out for any of Gerrard’s cannon attempts on goal. We certainly don’t want to see any of Stevie’s massive shot’s from outside the box in this match.

Liverpool have just as many reasons to win this match as we do, so they won’t be willing to give this one away without a fight. With chants from the home crowd behind us, hopefully the home side can put this one in the record books as a turning point.

I’m not quite as excited for the match tomorrow as I was for the Manchester away game (which is a difficult thing to say, because I’m going to have a hard time sleeping before this match), because at that point in the season things were truly looking abysmal. We’ve seen a flash of greatness in the side since that match, so now the team just needs to deliver it regularly. That being said, I can’t wait for the kick-off whistle to blow.

I think that we’ve got a good chance of winning this match and setting a tone for the rest of the season. I’ll be waking up at 7:45 a.m. to catch the game in my living room. It’s a bit too early for the pub. A fellow Arsenal supporter, who is new as of this season, will be joining me in the post and pre-match festivities. Hopefully we’ll be waking up the neighbors with some goal celebrations! I’ll be writing up a report shortly after the match so stay tuned.

Absolutely ridiculous rumors of Henry being upset with the club and leaving in January have been circulating.  They have all been dispelled.  That’s all I’m going to give to those baseless, rumor-spinning, dick face journalists.

And now a quick round-up of how the world looks for Arsenal right now.

The Manager

Arsene Wenger, who recently canceled his regular Friday press conference for the first time in 10 years, must be quite upset.  A man who usually has a stone cold expression-less face lashed out at another manager after losing to an 88th minute strike.  Add to that the history that Alan Pardew and Wenger have and the whole situation is even more concerning.  Arsene must be feeling ashamed of himself for acting like that, and might even be upset that the situation has gotten to the point that caused him to react in such an angry manner.  Gilberto recently said that he was a little concerned and even frightened at how the manager acted.

I wonder if things have gotten better in training.  Hopefully getting back to the pitch with his players has eased Arsene’s mind.  He has a galaxy of reasons to be upset, stressed, and concerned about not only his well-being but the teams.  This Sunday’s match against Liverpool at The Emirates could either exacerbate or drastically improve his mood.

The Team

The team itself ought to be worried about the recent performances. Although there have been some viable excuses, good games without goals, the fact of the matter is that Arsenal haven’t been getting results.  The built-up tension and angst about securing 3 points must be boiling over the rim ahead of this Sunday’s clash.

We haven’t heard much from the players about the current situation or Arsene’s outburst. I can only hope, as with Arsene, that the locker room and training pitch has been helping to keep the team’s morale up.  They’ve got to look onwards and know that they are the ones that can make it better from here on out.

The Captain

Henry has been quiet as well this last week.  The pressure of securing a win, leading the team, and scoring goals might be getting to him, but I’m sure he can pull the team together. I think it’s quite important to always be behind our captain.  If we were in first place, people wouldn’t be judging or questioning his skill or captaincy.  If we keep playing great football and can turn results our way, all of the questioning will go away.  For that reason, I will continue to actively support him and the rest of the team.

The Stadium

Arsenal have been at The Emirates for several months now and I’m sure we can now officially call it home.  Home as in the team doesn’t miss Highbury any more.   It’s time to break the curse of the new stadium and start a winning streak at home.  It starts Sunday, and hopefully it will last the rest of the season.
Things Could Be Worse

There are many ways in which the situation could be worse.  Although we have several injuries, at least we have players to fill the team out.  Although we are currently in 5th, at least we are not in 8th, like Liverpool.  Their performance this season has been pretty poor to date, and the game this weekend will likely set the tone for both teams for the rest of the season.  We also could look at Newcastle, a team that usually is in the middle of the table, who is currently riding the bottom in the second to last spot.

The Jersey

Every Friday I wear an Arsenal jersey.  I’ve got jerseys spanning several years in both home, away, and alternates.  I’ve got T-Shirts as well (my favorite being a black shirt with red text reading “PLD 38 W 26 D 12 L 0″). It’s my firm belief that as long as I keep doing this, Arsenal will be alright.  Things were looking pretty bad last year, but they came through at the end of the season in both the Prem and the Champion’s League. I won’t stop wearing a jersey on Fridays, and Arsenal won’t stop pleasing it’s supporters.

COME ON ARSENAL!

So yesterday I wrote up some absolutely ridiculous nicknames in an effort to be funny. One could have picked that up by the double asterisk in which I proclaimed an unfounded fear for our lovable goalie Jens Lehmann. Everyone apparently thought I was serious, like I expected commentators and supporters to start using them, and called me all sorts of nasty things like a cunt (the horror) in the comments. It’s like readers thought I was one of those jackasses trying to make “I Shot The Sheriff” Arsenal’s new anthem by using a god-damned website. Not the case. Anyhow, I appreciate the fact that people are actually reading this, regardless of what nasty things you call me, so to those who commented, thanks very much I guess (you silly cocks). You almost made me delete the post but that would just be yellow-bellied.

Let’s talk about the football and the Arsenal!

ESPN seems quite insistent that youngster Freddy Adu, hailed by the American Press as the next coming of Jesus for the MLS, is currently negotiating a trial with Manchester United. The BBC then confirm it. I would love to see a deal like this go through, but I just know in the back of my mind that it won’t work out. At the very least he’ll be exposed to much higher levels of football, hell even training with ManU for awhile could do wonders. He’s still impressionable at such a young age though so maybe this could be the real deal for an American in the Prem in one of the big four. Tim Howard had a spell at United and had lots of game time but was eventually knocked out of goal by Van der Saar, but even that has resulted in a loan to Everton and 11 starting appearances. Anything remotely similar to this would do wonders for Adu.

Meanwhile David Beckham scored a goal against third division team Ecija in the Copa Del Rey. It’s a third division Spanish team, but it’s still nice to see he still has some drive in him. He’s been getting the hell beaten out of him by the media and it would be easy to just concede defeat and retire. MLS rumors continue to swirl in the meantime.

If you are an ATVO subscriber you should check out the recent interview with Kolo Toure. He comes off as quite a funny guy and you can get a glimpse of all sorts of subtleties into the team through him.

Manuel Almunia has recovered from the injury he sustained against Everton midweek. He’ll be on the bench in case he is needed in place for Jens. Mart Poom on the other hand will then miss a narrow chance to see first squad action. He performed admirably after coming on for Almunia at Everton. It’s nice to know even our third string can withstand the heat. I’m not sure what all the talk about signing a new keeper really is all about, maybe Jens is closer to retirement than we know? I hate to think of it.

And finally there have been little-to-no updates yet of the fight of the century… the Wenger/Pardew debacle. As it stands each manager has been charged with misconduct and must reply to the charges by November 23rd. Pardew and West Ham insist that he was just celebrating a goal… Wenger and Arsenal believe Pardew over-reacted directly at Wenger and thus Arsene is not responsible for any wrongdoing. The whole thing is blown way out of proportion. Mr. Arseblogger said it best… ‘a storm in a teacup’. Whatever happens, I hope nothing major comes of it. Meanwhile the coin tossing remains unpunished and somehow not newsworthy.

I am eagerly awaiting our next match with Liverpool on Sunday. We’ve got all this pent up angst and drive from the recent poor performances so it would be great if the team can dominate Liverpool and put the ball in the back of the net. Several times. The game is on at 8am PST so I will actually be able to get some goddamned sleep this weekend.

Edit: Wow, apparently my attempt to come up with absolutely silly and ridiculous joke nicknames failed miserably. Next time I’ll have to start more clearly that it’s a joke… but that would defeat the purpose. Oh well. F it.

One nil to the Arsenal! At Everton! With an inexperienced squad! So we scored a late winner against Everton’s first team that was one man down. This was a great win for Arsenal today and helps to show supporters and rival clubs that even Arsenal’s youth are capable of winning games. I’d give you a match review, but I’d much rather just send you to The Cannon and Goodplaya who are rapidly becoming the definitive Arsenal Blog Match Reviewers of choice, at least in my book.

It sounds like Flamini played a fantastic game, acting as the midfield controller. Adebayor scored his second late winner of the season with a header from a Flamini cross. Our backline had some of our more experienced youth in Senderos, Eboue, and Djourou, so I’m sure that definitely helped to keep the defense tight. I wish this game was broadcast as it sounds like it was a good win for the club. Apparently it wasn’t even broadcast in England, so there wasn’t a curly cunt hair of a chance of catching it in the States.

In American soccer news, rumors continue to persist unnecessarily about a potential move for Beckham to the L.A. Galaxy. I think it’s a bit too soon to start supplying the rumor mill on this one. Beckham would still be highly valued at several EPL clubs, and maybe other Spanish and Italian teams. However, if the L.A. Galaxy can put together a competitive offer from funding with the MLS, and Mrs. Becks is anxious to give Hollywood a go, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen at the end of the season. It really comes down to the size of the MLS offer, if other competitive offers exist, and Posh. There are two good things that would come to fruition if this actually happened. One, American soccer would see a small surge in popularity immediately, and potentially attract future dying European talent. Second, it would kick that primadonna Landon Donovan out of the spotlight like he deserves. Henceforth to be called Landycakes or Primadonovan, per the gents at World Soccer Daily (and Fox Football Fone-In on FSC).

And now I present to you my Top 10 Arsenal Player Nicknames^{* **}

• ^{10. The Baptizer – Julio Baptista}
• ^{9. Van Helsing (and secondly Vampire Slayer) – Robin Van Persie}
• ^{8. Freddie Luxemburg – Freddie Ljungberg – An American announcer actually fucking said this once. It stuck, cause it’s hilarious.}
• ^{7. Tomas Rosencrantz – Tomas Rosicky – A play on said American announcer, if he were to try to say Rosicky.}
• ^{6. Spanish Fiberglass – Cesc Fabregas}
• ^{5. Arsene Wagner – Arsene Wenger – Another play on said idiotic American announcer, if he were to try to say Arsene Wenger.}
• ^{4. Coolio – Kolo Toure}
• ^{3. Alexandre Song Billong – Alexandre Song Billong}
• ^{2. Harrrrgh-leb – Alexander Hleb – where Harrrrgh is a spitting, retching sound.}
• ^{1. Faberge Egg – Cesc Fabregas}

^{* All nicknames apply to the current Arsenal squad.
** Jens Lehmann does not have a nickname for fear that if he discovered that I started one, he would hunt me down and scream at me while pointing a puffy gloved finger at my face.}

Thierry Henry has enjoyed an ilustrious and successful career as a footballer. Highlighted with magical goals at Arsenal F.C., Thierry Henry exemplifies what the modern football professional should strive to achieve.

Henry scores goals with a frequency and tenacity that few possess. Be it graceful lobs, powerful cannons, hefty volleys, or perfectly aimed rollers, all of his goals are a joy to watch. The one that stands out most in my mind is the goal against Manchester in 2000 at Highbury, where he flicked an oncoming pass up in the air with his back to the goal, turned, and lobbed a beautiful dipping and curving ball into the back of the net. It’s these types of goals, coupled with his deadly accuracy, that make him a player that the world wants to watch.

Aside from the goals, Henry exhibits a style of play and swagger that is unmatched. With deft flicks on the ball and quick turns past opponents, he is both graceful and stunning with his carefully practiced technique. He’ll pass the ball to himself without hesitation, slow play for the offense to catch up, and take on three or more defenders at once. Although his grace and skill have come under fire again, confidence remains high that he will once again find ways to impress.

Off the pitch, Thierry enjoys a calm and relaxing lifestyle that most footballers seem to avoid. He is rarely in the tabloids with nasty rumors and he is not the type to be involved in a pub fight. Too many players today exhibit this off-the-pitch behavior but Henry is cultivating a team of pure class. He is happily married with a young daughter and still finds the time to dominate the pitch.

Henry is also a masterful celebrator of goals. He often glides through the air with his arms out like wings, flying through the yelling and chanting of the Arsenal crowd. He also exhibits a passion, determination, and anger that get a crowd going be it at the game or in front of the television.

Thierry Henry is not a diver. He never has been and it looks like he never will be. Only once has the man actually dove, and afterwards he admitted it, explained it, and realized how wrong it was of him. It’s class like this that the modern day footballer should strive to possess, regardless of situation. Recently, Henry was yellow carded and stripped of a crucial goal in an away match in Moscow. Upset, absolutely, but he did not lose his cool during the match, yelling and crowding at the referee as another player might have (Chelsea… I’m looking at you).

In the last year we have seen Henry take on the captaincy for the gunners. He has handled this new role well, having never really acted as a leader before. While working with a very young but talented team, his leadership has been absolutely invaluable in upholding the standard of quality at Arsenal F.C. He has been widely criticized as of late, and although some of it may be warranted, we must not forget what he has done for the club. He deserves captaincy until he feels unfit for it.

The future is looking bright for Henry. Although Arsenal have faced problems in the last couple of games, we must remember that this Arsenal side is one of the youngest (the youngest?) in the Premiership, and Wenger is fostering talent at an age, pace, and quantity that hasn’t been encountered before at this high of a level. Arsenal will continue to perform well, win or lose, and in the years to come our club should hope to see some of the most beautiful and successful football in the world. This young and injury-ridden team made it all the way to the Champion’s League Finals. They then played 80 minutes one man down with one goal up against the competitor, Barcelona. Given that, we should rally behind Henry and hope to see his quality goals, skill, and leadership flourish.

To that end, I present a new wallpaper devoted to Henry. Enjoy it.

In a side note, a special thanks to atomicShed of Flickr for the fantastic centerpiece photo. I edited it heavily, but he deserves some kudos for this and all of his great Arsenal photos. He’s also got a great website with a good Highbury Salute photo set. He’s also got a fantastic image here, maybe I’ll do something with that one too.

Tomorrow I’ll have a much less Arsenal-patriotic post with some thoughts on what we could try to alleviate our current situation.  Come on you gunners!

Below is a little picture I whipped up showing how Arsene Wenger would have *really* liked to handle Pardew on Sunday. The Magic Hat pulls out a pizza for tossin’! Alan Pardew, you’ve been Gunnerfied!

Despite playing sub-par in the last match, Cesc has been voted as player of the month for October. Well done fabulous Fabregas, and keep playing your Cescy football. I hope the wee lad can come to terms with the recent poor performances, get over the hump, and help the team slot 7 against Liverpool.

The Cannon did a great job with a match recap, with great pictures as always. Please, have a read. I implore you.

Right now it’s hard to be a gunner. I wear the jersey with pride regardless. However, waking up at 5 a.m. in the morning for an 88th minute shocker isn’t just disappointing, it’s gut wrenching. It’s enfuriating. It doesn’t matter, Arsenal is a way of life.

ARSENAL ARSENAL ARSENAL.