Just when you thought things were getting worse, they actually are getting better.
It's so easy to slip into an completely negative stage when you suffer setbacks but if you've taken the cues from Arsenal, that's not what you should do.
Remain positive! And good things will come to you. Or, you can expect the worst and then be pleasantly surprised when the good things come.
Vermaelen didn't break anything in his leg. Which is splendid. I thought it would have been nonsensical if he did after being rested at Stoke so perhaps that tactic did work. We all expected him to be out for a long long time but would you take a look at this? He could even make United if he recovers within 2 days. If you'd compare the 2 injuries the team picked up at Villa, Eduardo is completely out of contention for the United game. Vermaelen with a suspected serious injury could return.
Must be an awesome roller coaster ride for United fans who may have been a little more happy that we lost one of our key players of the season.
Of course, they too think that the FA moves in slow motion. No, they don't. Experiences with Moneybags Adebayor and his stamp on RVP tells me that retribution is swift when it comes to being charge with violent conduct, even if you poach video evidence (from Mascherano) to support your case. You'll see C. Ronaldo and the use of Messi's video to help his case but failing (and in the process, piss off fatherly Xavi). In any case, when the ref puts in his report that he would have sent the player off and awarded a penalty to Hull, that pretty much means that you'll get a 3 game ban, simple as that. Except that he chose to plead 'not guilty' and it's byebye Rio for Arsenal game and 3 more. 1 extra suspension for a 'frivolous' claim. Good thing Adebayor pleaded 'guilty'.
It's really stupid on Ferdinand's part but not surprising. If he were available for United then they'll most probably field their first choice centre back partnership of Ferdinand and Vidic. Good news for us. Vidic should be back though, and partner Evans.
Wenger also stated that Eboue and Song are back in London as planned. I think 2 more days of rest from them till United is a good thing. Had the game been on a Saturday then chances of them featuring will be slim. Sol Campbell has himself fired up to face United and knows that he faces the task of stopping Wayne Rooney. One man does not make a team though, but we still need to stop him. Cut off supply to him and he'll start lumbering back into his own half to try and nick the ball from us and that makes him less effective. We need to keep possession well and get our passing game going. Bendtner's back and despite his inability to shoot, being tall makes a world of difference. We can play the ball off him and bring the other midfielders into the attack, of course, if he doesn't give the ball away as a result of a crappy return pass. We all know what to expect. No other choice though, because he happens to be the only striker left.
If Vermaelen can't play, I'd put Campbell in. Song needs to be in that holding role. If Diaby is scared fit too then it's obvious that he partners Cesc. The front 3 will be Arshavin, Bendy and Tomas. I hope Denilson doesn't play. Every effort on his part to win the ball back from the opposition have been half-hearted lately and it's irritating me. Either you're in or you're out. There's no in between.
It should be a crackin game at United. Maybe a game against Villa didn't fire up the lads as much. United, should.Labels: Emmanuel Adebayor, Man Utd, Sol Campbell, Thomas Vermaelen
A Little Drunken Madness @ 2:06 PM
That was a game that was there for the taking. Unfortunately, Villa and Arsenal played out to a goalless draw.
The difference between a top club and some club who only wants to play for a Champion's League qualifying spot, is that post match, one manager says that we should have won while the other is ever so contented to skim off a point. What ambition?
Maybe he knew more objectively then the scum commentators who claim Villa to be the better team thanks to some 'clear cut' chances that fell to Stewart Downing, in which he screwed wide. At least have the courtesy to say that they weren't on target. Just by those 2 chances alone, they think that Villa should have won. I guess it's worth forgetting that Cesc hit the post late in the first half and Rosicky missed a glorious chance when he riffled the freakin bar. You don't get any more clear cut than that, suckers.
There should be an option to turn off commentary. I don't do that because I enjoy listening to the fans singing, our fans in particular. No one needs to listen to lame ass Villa fans singing 'same old Arsenal, always cheating' when they're the same people who sing about Eduardo's broken leg. People of Birmingham seem to have something screwed up in their brain somewhere.
Anyway, what we should be most concerned about is the injury to Vermaelen. It doesn't look good and he's going to have lots of scans to determine if it's a nerve problem or a broken leg. This is highly unfortunate. Just when the players are miraculously returning to fitness for once, 2 more get crocked. With dudu it was always going to happen. After his broken ankle you'd expect him to suffer niggles like that. But a broken foot for Thomas? Don't think it's expected at all. It's really stupid that the manager decided to rest him at the weekend, essentially giving him one week off to rest up and he gets injured on the subsequent game back. Makes you think that you should have played him anyway, and perhaps the result at Stoke might be a wee bit different. Now we may not get to test that theory this season because he might be out for the rest of the season as it stands.
Also, it's funny to note how Sol Campbell is ahead of Silvestre in the pecking order. I guess he does realise what a lame prick Silvestre is. I think Arsenal should do more to sign Chris Smalling. If he chooses United then fine. But we do need more cover at centre half and he's actually featured in the league already for Fulham so he will create an additional option. Who faces united though, remains to be seen. Campbell has been out of action for a long long time and is now thrown right back into it but I think it's a challenge he relishes. He sure looks a whole lot better than the Campbell of old actually. He is committed and has no room to be conceited and is working hard. It's a competition of places, even though you don't really have to do much to bump Silvestre out of it. Even after all these time, he is still twice the player Silvestre is.
Right so we'll await further news on Vermaelen. Looking at the injury list, it is looking pretty bad. Only Diaby and Eduardo are short term injuries. We knew for sure that Van Persie, Gibbs and Djourou are out till next season. It's good to shorten the damn injury list but it ain't cool to add more. They're playing tag team here where ones comes out, another will go in. Arsene Wenger certainly will not be signing a striker because he prefers to collect interest at the bank. Makes perfect sense actually, since our crazy run of games have already started and by the time reinforcements arrive they can't actually be thrown into the fire immediately. At least no one available is of that standard. We need a big squad with sufficient depth to challenge for honours and there is no harm keeping 4 strikers. We have 3 and 2 are out while 1 just came back from injury and I'm not sure if he's a striker because he gets into good positions in the box (WITH THE BALL) and doesn't shoot. Tell me that he's finding his way back from fitness. Oh yes. Then why is he doing the same old thing as before? The same old frustrating shit. When he had to come on to replace Eduardo he brought a glimmer of hope that he soon extinguished when you see him back to old ways. Nicklas Bendtner, messiah. Drives me nuts as usual. At least now with only ONE striker left Wenger's not going to put him on the.....right.
Lastly, it's always news when Rosicky isn't the one who is crocked. He's putting a decent run of games now so, you know it's coming. Prove me wrong, baby. And I hope Song is back for United. It'll restore balance to the team and then Denilson can be dropped. What kind of stupid holding midfielder slips here and there and allows the opposition to go past him that easily? It ain't protecting the back 4. It's just maybe slowing down the attack for half a second. And he doesn't look quite up to it fitness wise because somehow, it seems that every player manages to outrun him. Cuckoo. I want Song back. Denilson can sit on the stupid bench. Even Diaby does the holding role better than him. In fact, he attacks better too. If Denilson can't hold and not attack without passing the ball back, what is his true purpose? This knowledge is beyond my understanding, just like how Bendtner refuses to shoot when in the penalty box WITH THE BALL in a GOOD POSITION. Is he a striker? If he's not that what is he?Labels: Neves Denilson, Nicklas Bendtner, Sol Campbell
A Little Drunken Madness @ 1:28 PM
I need some cheering up.
3-1 it ended, us on the side of the 1. The most in-form team in the league has lost.
There are positives despite all that.
We never looked like winning, even when we threw Arshavin, Eduardo and Ramsey. At 1-1, you'd understand why Wenger would want to go for the win. At that moment, the thought of scheduling a replay in the midst of our congested fixture list was just plain bad. DNW is the phrase. At the end of the game though, I don't know how many of us would have taken that 1-1 scoreline instead of being greedy.
It was all not meant to be because the 3 that came on didn't really impose themselves on the game enough to turn the game around. Instead, our lacklustre attack left us more exposed at the back, and we couldn't deal with it. As it was, the back 5 weren't the first choice first teamers you would have liked and they were always going to have problems. I thought Sol Campbell did well with what he was given to do and Silvestre did ok. Stoke rarely threatened in open play. When we could deal with their long throws and high balls the defence did fine, up until they were left wide open with unsuccessful attacks.
The youngsters did as well as they could. I though fielding Fabregas was a statement of intent and he worked tirelessly for the team but things just didn't fall into place for him. This game ain't a bad thing really. Gives our young captain a little bit more experience. Things will never always be smooth-sailing and you gotta learn how to react.
All in all, either you go through to the next round, or you don't. It's one trophy lost. We're still in the running for 2, the 2 that aren't the most straightforward. Hopefully this doesn't result in a bad run of form and the depth of the squad was tested and they failed. There's still time for that to change but I doubt it, with Bendtner due to return at Aston Villa. Not a lot of time between then and the end of the window for him to screw up just in time for Wenger to realise that he really needs to buy. And this probably gave us a glimpse of how diabolical it'll be if one of Vermaelen or Gallas has to be replaced.
Games are going to come in thick and fast now so there's not time to mope but to look to the Villa game. Till then.Labels: Cesc Fabregas, Sol Campbell, what kind of fuckery is this
A Little Drunken Madness @ 11:28 PM
Sol Campbell hasn't officially signed for Arsenal yet but you'd expect the deal to go through. He has been speaking a lot of Arsenal.com and here's a quote worth taking a second look at:
"Yes [I wish I had never left]
Sometimes when you go away you realise what a top club Arsenal is. Slowly but surely everyone moves on but sometimes you move away and you re-think things."
Don't think he'll be saying anything about Sp*rs. Don't think anyone would feel that way about Sp*rs with the exception of Robbie Keane. Maybe it was because he went to Liverpool.
...that is a club in shambles at the moment and I'll get to that later.
I think Arsene Wenger is awesome. He normally gets the best out of his players before letting them go and this has been the case for almost everyone who has came his way. Campbell may prove to be a little blip to their record but I believe in Arsene Wenger and Arsene knows. There's been much talk about Flamini's return to England and here's a player we would welcome back. He might actually be happier here and partner Cesc again in midfield but Song owns as the anchorman.
On to pool. Ahahaha. srsly. I didn't expect this after the Reading draw and the FA cup replay being held at Anfield. But oh. It did. And now all Liverpool have to play for is 4th spot and a chance to win the first ever Europa League. Rafa Benitez has guaranteed 4th spot. Even Arsene Wenger did not do that last season. And this is probably KARMA for their fans who laughed at our quest for 4th spot. Sheesh man. Karma stings. Won't want to mess with karma.
So Man Utd and Liverpool are out of the FA Cup in the first round they played in. Arsenal have Stoke in the way but it's not too shabby to get both teams out of the way. If the FA Cup wasn't that important at all, it sure is a good indication of how the big 4 clubs are doing so far. Man Utd are still challenging for the title and in the Champion's League as well as the semi-finals of the Carling Cup but they've been far from impressive. Liverpool is just, well, Liverpool. They can blame all their troubles on off-pitch shenanigans but truly, they've been poor and the faster they accept it the faster they'll get back on track.
Arsenal always make things tough for themselves but if they manage to produce that something extra they can pose a real threat. The West Ham game is testament to that.
Lastly, Chelsea always have it easy.
Arsenal are the true underdogs here.Labels: Arsene Wenger, Big 4, FA Cup, Sol Campbell
A Little Drunken Madness @ 10:14 PM
The phrase "seeing is believing" is never overrated. Never ever.
There has been speculation, loads of speculation, speculation I chose to dismiss. And then Arsene Wenger proved me wrong and signed the above fellow. "re-signed" to be exact.
Honestly, between Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell, it's obvious who our choice would be. What remains is that the boss didn't think we needed Paddy but we would have a use for Sol's services.
The period of time of my 'great awakening' as an Arsenal fan was probably right around now. Previously I know I was following blindly at a young age. I was mesmerised by Henry and Pires for the most part (maybe Freddie too). I wasn't conscious of Sol's move from Sp*rs and all the drama that went along with that. But I do like him. Since his departure, I don't think anyone as big as him has been in our defence.
This season is getting interesting ain't it. Paddy's back but with Man City while Sol signs for us again. This could be Arsenal's year in so many ways. If City does do well we arguably have a part to play since they like our ex-players.
Except that one of our ex-players don't seem to possess enough City shirts he had to rope in one of Arsenal's and he did an interview in it.
Nice shirt. It's from 2 seasons ago I think. I liked the polo then. I think we'll all be up in arms if he ever donned the Arsenal shirt again.
Flamini is reportedly unhappy at Milan, probably due to the lack of first team appearances. Last season, we would have taken him back in a heartbeat. It's different this time. I never thought I'd say that Alex Song strikes a far more impressive figure than the combative Flamster.Labels: Alex Song, Emmanuel Adebayor, Sol Campbell, transfer window hoo-ha
A Little Drunken Madness @ 12:04 PM
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