Hleb was our playmaker. Hleb was our attacking midfielder. Hleb was our striker. Then he was hacked by Carew and had to be replaced. This was the turning point of the game.  Hleb’s pass completion was 98%, that is simply outstanding. When he went off our attacks fell apart, we resorted to long balls and losing possession. Hleb was instrumental to us last night at Villa Park and Villa new this, MON would have said to his team at half time, ‘Listen guys, Alexander has ran rings around us and every time they attack it’s through him. Whenever he attacks stay close to him’. The Villa players took this as ‘play rough on him’ and Carew hacked him down. But it didn’t matter because we still won.

Had we lost or even drew because of that challenge then Wenger would have let the press know about it. But I hold nothing against Villa, they are turning into a good solid team; they have skillful players on the wings, good players in the middle and a good target man i.e. the makings of a good team. So we faced problems last night, major ones. We had a team that like to cross, use pacey wingers and a target man in the middle, all 3 of which are attributes that Arsenal don’t like. We coped well but only just got 3 points, this is what champions are made of. On a number of occasions Young outmaneouvred Sagna and Bacari had to foul him, luckily we didn’t have Senderos on the pitch because Senderos+set pieces= disaster.

So another game passes and another unbeaten game in the league, it’s starting to look good, isn’t it? December makes or breaks seasons and this year it’s no different. Adebayor scored and his confidence seems to have found itself in good stead ahead of a tough Newcastle trip in midweek. Newcastle are poor but Sam will turn them into a good side, I’m certain of it. They need patience and commitment from players. St James’ Park will be bustling with 50,000 lunatics eager to see their team start winning, so the game will be tough. Fabregas is 50% to play, Hleb is 50% to play and Newcastle will be 100% ready to play us and save their season.

If Fabregas doesn’t play it should not matter much, why? Because Flamini done Fabregas’ job well last night. Wenger put out Flamini and Diarra in the middle but knew two defensive midfielders together would not complement each other well so said to Flamini, ‘Matt, Cesc is injured so you’re job is to be our main passer in midfield. I rely on you to link up attack to defense and support our striker like Fabregas does’. Flamini then looked at Arsene and said ‘Monsieur Wenger, your wish is my command’. Flamini done well last night. He assisted our attack and left Diarra to do the main defensive work. It worked well but would have worked better with Gilberto. Diarra was sloppy and casual in the second half, we pride ourselves on fast, quick touching football but Diarra was still in Chelsea mindset and controlled the ball for too long. Gilberto would have been slicker and quicker on the ball but in the end it didn’t matter.

We face Burnley in the F.A cup, it’s a good run out for our kids. They are a good team who should have been promoted years ago but let their chance slip and now find it hard to get to the play off finals. So will our fate be solved in December? Will a good December give the title to us? Yes. I think so. I’ve said from the start of the season we will win it this year, and every week proves me right.

Ramin

The Sun hate us and today they wrote that ‘Wenger was to blame for Arsenal’s poor display after being cocky enough to field a changed 11 from their convincing win against Wigan on Saturday. They only have themselves to blame for not sailing through their group in 1st place’. Then he went on to write about how Ronaldo was a ‘blistering player with the ability to be the best in the world in 2 years time’. The moral of the story is The Sun write a lot of bullshit.

Wenger was not arrogant and cocky, fact is, Wenger trusts his players because he is a manager that has faith in his team. If Wenger didn’t have faith in his team he wouldn’t have played our youngsters in the Carling Cup final last season, he wouldn’t have played our youngsters this season and he would have bought experience in the summer. He didn’t and the wanker who writes for The Sun is obviously jealous of our great run this season, therefore decided to take it out on Wenger. After all, Fergie spent £17m on Hargreaves who let’s face it has been shite for United so far.

Let’s move on; Arsenal were outclassed last night. Arsenal went to Sevilla and played for a draw because we were happy to get a point and coast through the group in top place. Arsenal could have won, but we needed our best team out. We may be able to win the league with youngsters but we cannot win the European Cup with youngsters because experience counts in Europe. Last night proved it. Last night we would have beaten any premier league team because our youngsters have had premier league experience, however we still need to mature in Europe. At least Wenger realised this now rather than later on in the stages where it would have turned out more fatal.

We needed Gallas last night. We needed our commander, our spine, our leader on the pitch. We needed Gallas to be there to help guide our delicate youngsters in the south of Spain. But he was not there and we paid for it. However it doesn’t matter, why? Because Arsenal will finish 2nd and probably face an elite club, but we play best when underdogs. When Arsenal are favourites, we buckle under pressure. When we reached the final against Barca we were underdogs in every match. Juventus were supposed to beat us 3-0, Madrid were supposed to ‘teach us a lesson’ (famously said by Ally McCoist on ITV1 before our match) but they didn’t and everyone was left gobsmacked. That was the year everyone started looking at Wenger as a special manager, something different to any other.

We need to get a big team in the champions league because Arsene is a great motivator. He will tell the players we can win the match and the players will respond to Monsieur Wenger because Wenger is the best coach in the world. Who will we get? I don’t know. Who would I like us to get? Milan. They are an ageing team, they are a team that have been poor this season because their main striker left 2 seasons ago for Chelsea, and ever since, they have lacked power up front. Kaka is class, but one player does not make a team. Flamini can outwit Kaka and deep down Flamini knows it, Flamini wants Kaka because he knows Kaka will be in his pocket when they meet.

Eboue was poor last night but Bendtner was immense. Bendtner can hold the ball up because his physical strength overrides his skill, he is a strong lad. Bendtner is a special player and Wenger knows this, hence why Arsene wants to keep hold of him even though we have 4 other strikers ready to play up front. Will Bendtner take Addy’s place this season? No. Arsene likes Addy but also likes Bendtner. So he faces a dilemma, just like he faced a dilemma when he sold Paddy in 2005 and had to decide whether to buy a replacement or not. In that case he didn’t and we paid the price for 2 years. However, if we bought a replacement we probably wouldn’t have seen a future legend blossom, better known as Fabregas.

To finish this, I came across pictures of our unbeaten record (28 Unbeaten) taken from Arsenal.com. I enjoyed looking at Adebayor celebrating the best goal he’s ever scored and probably will ever score against Spurs at the Lane when we taught them a lesson on how to play football.

Ramin

Sadly I’ve been slacking; haven’t made a post on this website for quite some while as I’d been busy with a few other things. I’m back now, and will make it short & sweet; the only purpose of this post is to gloat. Everyone knows Arsenal fans are cocky bastards; after going unbeaten when everyone wrote you off, there are few things we won’t be cocky about (the Champions League being one of them, but don’t worry; we’ll win it this year :lol:)

The more games I see this team play, the more I feel that we are going to win the league; it’s been four barren years and it has definitely hurt, especially with all the Utd, Chelsea and deluded Scouser pricks getting in their say in the deepest, darkest moments of the season before and the one preceding it; when we were at one of the lowest moments (in the league, at least) during the Wenger era and even had to suffer the ignominy of competing with Spurs (until they fucked it up, of course) till the last day of the 2005/06 season.

This year though, you can see great things ahead; Flamini has rose from a headless chicken to one of the best defensive midfielders around; the wastefulness of Hleb last year is contrasted with weaving footwork and killer passes this; the unluckiness of Cesc Fabregas last year followed up with the spate of goals; the injuries of William Gallas made up for with a genuine desire to take us to the top (and a couple of late goals, of course).

I could go on forever about individual players, but I won’t; the team as a whole has improved so much so that is is unbelievable. Yes, you see the frustrating football at times, but that is Arsenal, and nothing else will do; the eye-of-a-needle stuff has been complemented by a willingness to scrap for the points, and avoid defeat no matter what- see the late equaliser at United for at example of that.

What has surprised most Gooners is the making of Gallas as captain; whilst many thought, me included that he would not be up to it he has surprised all of us with his tenacity and sheer will to win. Wenger has been proven right to take that decision, just as he has been proven right countless times in the past; a victory in the league this year will see him hopefully being proven right countless times in the future as well. The one thing I’d say the manager was mistaken with was the reluctance to get in a winger during the summer; Eboue has failed to impress there, while Theo is still learning. Whilst he has said he is not currently considering anyone in the January transfer window, one hopes that we do get in someone who can cross the ball; we have been getting more players than ever before in the penalty box in recent times, and it would be a shame to let that go to waste.

For all those that haven’t seen yesterday’s goals yet take a look; the first one was pretty decent; the second had glimpses of the glorious counter attacking football played by the Invincibles in it. Nicky Bendtner was heavily involved in both, and surely must get more chances in the coming weeks; he is emerging to be every bit as good as he was hyped up to be, and while it is early in his career, I see great things ahead. As for Eduardo, a pretty lifeless cameo to be honest, but once he transfers his international form to the Premier League (and he will need time to do so, but I have no doubt that he will) we are in for a treat - and a big one at that. Enjoy the goals!

 

England were poor. McClaren got it all wrong. And England are out. What else is there to say? Was there any positives? Yes. The only positive is that missing out on Euro 2008 will make the country stonger and will make the F.A realise they made a big mistake in appointing McClaren. It’s better for the F.A to realise they were wrong now and miss out on the Euro’s than realise after the Euro’s and potentially miss out on the World Cup.

I listened to SSN this morning and heard different statements:

Motson : ‘England need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask themselves why they did not qualify through an easy group’

Shearer : ‘The manager got it all wrong and now the nation has to suffer for his decisions’

Mourinho : ‘It is sad to see England not qualify… the Euro’s will not be the same without England’

Hansen : ‘Poor quality, poor defending and poor team effort’

Wright : ‘England are a shambles. Absolutely shocking’

McClaren overcomplicated the tactics; England should have come out of the tunnel playing a 4-4-2 with Gerrard and Barry together, and Crouch up front with Defoe. Defoe looked lively, he came on and was sharp, Bent looked good as well but England missed the extra layer of quality when attacking. Our defense was poor but our keeper was even worse. Will quota’s on English football help? No.

England are producing the talent, just look at the U21’s who are top of their group and cruising the groups, the problem is not in producing the talent, the problem lies in giving them regular football when top teams prefer to spend money on proven talent. All apart from Wenger of course who likes to buy unknown stars. But then again, Wenger hates English players. But he has every right to. English players like to booze, go clubbing and have sex. Foreigners don’t drink as much, don’t go clubbing as much and don’t have sex every night. Would Toure go out on a bender? No he probably wouldn’t. He is religious and his beliefs restrict him from doing so. So it’s a catch 22 situation.

Did England disrespect the other teams in the group? Were they too confident? No-one knows. We can all judge but nobody knows the truth. Only the 24 man squad and the England national team staff know. But it seems like they were too confident. But confident needs to be distingished from disrespect because players disrespected McClaren. They didn’t listen to Steve, players didn’t respond to Steve because he was not a man with high status or calibre. Gerrard is used to listening to Rafa every week, someone with high credibility in English football, Lampard used to take orders from the legend that was Mourinho and Campbell played under one of the greatest managers ever, better known as Wenger. Therefore, when they see Steve ‘the clown’ McClaren standing in front of them, they don’t take him as seriously as they would with their club managers. If Jose said, ‘Listen, we are playing 4-5-1 with the wingers getting in as many crosses as possible’, then we would have won last night. But instead it was McClaren who said it, a person with little respect or achievement in terms of what’s needed to be a good successful England manager.

Who will take over? Not Mourinho. Not Sam. Not Hiddink. Roman won’t let Hiddink leave, he will double whatever England offer him. Russia without Hiddink are nothing. It will either be Harry or O’Neill. Harry won’t be allowed to leave, so it looks like it’s Martin, skybet have him at 3/1 so he looks like the safe option.

I’m happy with Martin; Martin knows his tactics, he knows the strengths of players and he knows how to make our over-congested midfield work together. I’ve always wanted Scolari, because his record is outstanding, but if Scolari doesn’t get the job it would please me because I want him in charge of Arsenal when Arsene leaves. I walked into Ladbrokes at 4pm today and said, ‘Manny, has the idiot been sacked yet? I’ve been busy with work so haven’t been able to check for updates.‘ Manny, my friend who works behind the counter at Ladbrokes responded with ‘yes, the wankers gone.’ I felt relieved.

But players and fans aren’t the only ones suffering. The economy will suffer significantly; the English GDP will be affected by around £2bn due to England not qualifying. Why? Because merchandise, tv revenue and pubs will suffer. The costs are estimated to be £2bn. Does it matter? Yes it does. ‘But what will you do next summer’ I hear you ask? I just checked Virgin and flights to America are at £1200 per person, I think I’ve just answered your question !

Ramin

I received an email this morning from a reader called Chris, he told me he was ‘intrigued’ to hear my views about England this weekend, especially after Israel beat Russia to gift England a chance of going through. Well, I was going to write about the circus that England found themselves this morning anyway so no worries Chris.

I don’t like talking much about the England national team. Why? Because half of England don’t like talking about the England national team. I listened to a number of radio phone ins yesterday, and die hard English fans wanted Russia to win. You know when football has gone mad when fans want their own  national team to lose. The main reasons were because England are ‘over paid and overhyped compared to other nations’ said Mark from Exeter. The rugby world cup team had the whole of the nation backing them, the football team hasn’t. Fact is, football has become such as dominant sport people are starting to hate it. Women hate it more than ever and fans outside the top 10 are going off the sport because the top teams are strengthening with such power that lower teams might as well not bother as they know they won’t mount a good run in the league.

Footballers are seen as selfish, over paid and arrogant these days. All of which are true, but if you were paid £40,000+ a week then I’m certain you would be as well. I wanted Israel to win more than ever, and when Elyaniv Barda scored on the 10 minute mark, England qualifying seemed a reality. A good pass from Andrei Arshavin saw Bilyaletdinov strike the ball past the Israel keepers legs and Russia were back in the match. In the 90th minute, the clock suddenly stopped, the players suddenly stopped, because Sychev took a shot that clipped the outside of the post. My heart was beating, my legs felt restless and my brain was throbbing with pain. Funnily enough Israel went and scored straight from Russia’s attack and won.

England have been gifted a chance to qualify for Euro 2008. Hiddink will be fuming, I’m certain Roman Abramovich sat down with the Russia players before the match and said,

‘Listen guys, I don’t like England, I want Russia to win more than ever so don’t let me and all the Russian fans down. I will give you each £25,000 if you win. Simple. Now piss off and win. Or else ! ‘ 

Roman would have been fuming with the players, he will be talking to Guus this morning and demanding an answer for their poor performance. They were miles behind Israel in terms of quality which left me and millions of others in bewilderment, especially after their good performance against England. Roman is an influential character in Russia, he is respected and seen as a legend over there. He has done a lot for Russian football, and if he said he wanted Guus sacked then the Russian Football Union, better known as their F.A, would seriously consider his request. But he won’t want him sacked. Roman loves Guus and Guus loves Roman. Roman wants Guus in charge of Chelsea but he also wants Guus to stay in charge of the Russian national team because Guus has improved the Russians immensely since he took over. Guus goes back to the roots, he goes to the youth of football and looks for long term success.

On the other hand, McClaren is still a hopeless idiot. Just as he has the balls to drop Lampard for Barry and England finally see an excellent partnership in midfield, he decides to bring Lampard back in for Wednesday. Is he deluded ? Lampard and Gerrard won’t work in McClarens tactics. When something is working you don’t change it. This is why we need someone with half a brain to manage England. We all know what will happen; we will qualify, the F.A will say ‘Told you all he was the right man for England’ and in the Euro’s we will lose in the quarters, then Brian Barwick, Geoff Thompson and co will sack him and look for another manager. This happens for every tournament. Now it’s becoming a bit of a joke.

Will we win on Wednesday? Of course. Skybet had us at 14/1 to win the Euro’s before Israels match yesterday, if England qualify, that will go down to 4/1. Therefore, for all the betting men out there, 14/1 would have been an excellent bet. Shame you’ve missed out on it now though.

Ramin