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Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde – Which Arsenal has travelled to the Riverside today?

Posted by :jat85 On : December 13, 2008
18

Category: Arsenal

So, while Dev is out in Spain watching our opponents-to-be in the Champions League (it is only a matter of time before Thierry comes home, and my money is on it being with Barca in February) I have been given the honour of writing today’s post.

Our game against ‘Boro is at 12.45. We need to win today and next week at home against Liverpool to keep our title dreams alive. Everyone at Arsenal is talking about consistency being the key to success. Nothing but wins in our next two games will suffice in this respect.

Arsene is bigging up Nicklas Bendtner by saying he will ‘come good’ in the end. I hoped he had turned a corner with a very well taken goal against Kiev a couple of weeks ago. This has not been the case and I must admit I am starting to detest this guy. Detest is a strong word, but when I see somebody pull on an Arsenal shirt and seem not to care, nor perform, as he does I struggle to find a way of being polite about it. Having said that I would never boo him, but let’s not go there – sooo last week. Bendtner is running out of time to prove himself and frankly Eduardo can’t come back soon enough.

Talking of Eduardo, he makes his LONG-awaited comeback for the reserves next week. I suspect that Underhill will be packed to the rafters and I hope to squeeze myself in there too. I am hoping for a more cheerful experience than the last time I saw him on that painful day at St Andrews.

Talking of long-awaited comebacks, Tomas Rosicky appears to be making one final attempt to save his career by going to see Bayern Munich’s club Doctor. Apparently this guy has some alternative methods of recovery and I hope he can help, as it seems less and less likely that Rosicky will make it back. Fingers crossed for Tomas.

January is creeping up on us, and I am sure we are all secretly praying that Arsene has a signing or three up his sleeve. Naturally the press are getting excited about things, with stories about Gallas being linked here and Bendtner being linked there, as well as the standard stories of overseas players making their way to us. As usual we will have to wait and see because you just cannot predict what the boss is going to do.

Perhaps he feels we are better off keeping the faith in our young guns. Despite his frequent ability not to see certain things on the field, you would have to say nothing but blind ignorance can mask the obvious frailties we have in our team. We can only remain hopeful that something will be done to rectify what has been a continually worrying situation with regard to the flaws in our squad.

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say for today. Dev should be back tomorrow with post-match reaction. Arsenal have an early chance to make or break my weekend. Here’s to much making and no breaking. Anyone else on here a Sp*rs fan for the day?

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jat85

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  • Fabrez!

    I’ll be completely honest…unless Man U, Chelsea & Liverpool drop points today, I have lost ABOSLUTELY ALL prem league hope…dead serious… Southgate never beaten by Arsenal in 5 meetings is pathetic. It would definitely be over and we’ll know what’s up around 5 o’clock :( :( I’m so upset…and we will need Aston Villa to drop points too *sigh*

  • zohaib

    where is everyone ?

  • zohaib

    i’m starting to feel like the boy in home alone

  • http://kierandelaney.net/blog kierandelaney.net/blog

    < ![CDATA[I can't really be arsed. I don't feel like being negative, and having not won I expect everyone here will be calling for Wengers resignation again.

    On a side note, Robbie Keane spent his second successive 90 minutes on the bench this weekend. He'll probably be off in January then, given Benitiz comments about his lack of skill and aptitude. And Alonso played his 16th league match (out of Liverpool's 17) so I wonder if people will finally stop talking about him coming to Arsenal?]]>

  • Debs

    same feelings as Kieran, Zohaib. Can’t really be arsed! We’ve said it all already and there’s nothing much to say again, really…

  • zohaib

    < ![CDATA[LOL. trying to inject some rubbish and spark some debate into the boring forum are you ?

    nah man. just not in the mood to argue. not even ur ironic or sarcastic (and incorrect) comments will get me to argue.

    benitez has said anything but comment about the 'lack of skill and aptitude' of keane. in fact he's only just stated that robbie keane is top quality and he's going nowhere in jan. anyone would tell you he's one of the best support strikers around. you've clearly got a grudge against him. or ur just playing devil's advocate again.

    but at least play properly. at least get ur facts right. benitez hasnt stated anything of the sort. you gota stop reading the rubbish on the crappy fansites you go to or at least try to differenciate b/w fact and fiction, if you are being serious.

    keane was rested. after all they were playing hull. they'v got arsenal next. they already dont have torres. if keane had picked up an injury, they'd be facing big problems against us. he had already given 90 mins in the midweek game.

    looks like our draw against 'boro really upset you. posting strange comments here as a result of the frustration ? i know. it stinks.

    why dont we talk about the game though ?]]>

  • zohaib

    < ![CDATA[wow. debs i thought you'd come out positive and say something like 'at least we didnt lose'. its really got you sad too.

    i supposed we did okay. created a few but didnt finish, in the first half (vanpersie's miss from ade's pass looks like its cost us 2 points). and we conceded a goal that i suppose any team could have conceded. i duno. i dont think we switched off did we ? it didnt seem like someone wasnt doing their job right. it just seemed like one of those things. the pacey cross. the sudden header. was song at fault for not tracking back to give clichy the option to pass or was gallas or almunia at fault for not doing better ? take your pick i guess.
    the first half we started well but as time went on, we got sloppy. then they scored and we seemd to lose confidence. the second half we were bull* till the 80th min, which is prolly when we used the sub(s). and i was wondering why wenger wasnt bring on vela earlier. what was he waiting for ? the game's at 1 - 1. you go for it early enough so that the sub can make a difference. he's too stubborn. he'll wait till th 80th min so that the guy doesnt have any time to make a difference. sometimes he just seems like he doesnt know how to use the substitutions. but it does say that he's reluctant to be aggressive bcuz he worries about how a change will affect teh balance of the team defensively. why doesnt he just get proper players who know how to defend. or get a defensive coach to teach them !]]>

  • zohaib

    < ![CDATA[and another positive for us is this - none of the other top4 have won this weekend. so we havnt fallen further behind, fortunately. had we won we would have made up ground to every one of them. but at least we havnt fallen further behind.

    of course, with the exception of a top5 team in aston villa, which have made ground on us and possibly overtaken us to 4th place (i havnt chekd yet).]]>

  • Pissed off

    None of the top four wants to take initiative to win the league. May be Villa will help them out

  • zohaib

    < ![CDATA[anyone seen obafemi martins' strike ? unlucky not to have scored. he shot from 30 - 35 yards with his left foot. cut across the ball a bit to induce some wicked late in-swing. initially aimed it outside of the post bcuz of the defender standing in b/w him n the goal, and its swung in and hit the post low.

    such a sweet strike. it stayed low, which shows how much accuracy and power he has in his feet.

    can we please have him !]]>

  • http://kierandelaney.net/blog kierandelaney.net/blog

    < ![CDATA[Zohaib, even if you are trying to start another bunfight, answer me 1 question.

    You manage a premier league team. You're top, but you want to stay there. You're at home to Hull. It's 2-2 with 20 minutes to go. You have a £20m striker on the bench. You really should win the match, and you're well in control but you're not creating or taking chances.

    Do you really leave a player like Robbie Keane on the bench if you think he's that good?

    Oh, and you do know Villa played yesterday don't you? And they won. They've been above us since 5pm yesterday....]]>

  • zohaib

    < ![CDATA[if anyone's trying to start a 'bunfight' its you and your exaggerated, incorrect and personal (rather than professional) opinions.

    i'm an arsenal supporter not a villa supporter or a statistician who's supposed to know when aston villa goes above us. and you're back to attacking me pointlessly. btw, lame attack.

    and my point was, keane had gave 90 mins midweek, maybe benitez had injury concerns. maybe keane had some sort of a problem that was minor enough to not be publicly stated. or maybe liverpool didnt want to announce that keane wasnt fully fit to prevent hull from gaining a mental boost. who knows. its not as if people who're on the bench are always fully fit.
    dont we usually field players out in the starting eleven who aren't fully fit - eboue, diaby etc.

    otherwise why on earth wudnt benitez give keane 10 mins or so. but your analysis about keane not being good enough is nothing but a personal grudge. he clearly is good enough.

    but i'm not trying to convince you that you're wrong. or that keane is actually good bcuz i dont need to. you aren't prepared to have an unbiased opinion anyways and you'll never accept that keane is good enough even if he finishes in the top 5 strikers in the league. you're pointlessly stubborn, so continue to think that keane is rubbish by all means. and if possible try to make the arsenal players think so too when they play against liverpool next. it'll at least get some confidence into them, possibly. thats something positive to come out of ur opinion of keane.]]>

  • http://kierandelaney.net/blog kierandelaney.net/blog

    < ![CDATA[Oh ok, I was just going by what Rafa Benitiz himself said last Saturday on MOTD. "He has to raise his level". That sort of sounded like he wasn't that impressed. Or after the PSV game midweek when he was interviewed and he said "he tries too hard or not enough". That doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement!

    There are plenty of strikers in the league who I admire, and who I have publicly mentioned on this very blog, so calling me biased is probably the weirdest thing you've said yet, but top five now in my mind are (in no particular order) Abonglehor, Cisse, Robinhio, Anelka and Zaki.

    I'd pick Ronaldo, but he's not a true striker and he's not in top form.

    Notice how none of them are Arsenal players? How biased of me!]]>

  • http://kierandelaney.net/blog kierandelaney.net/blog

    On the other hand, a very good striker, who happens to play for Spurs is Bent. But I wouldn’t pick him either because he had a very poor season last year.

  • JDD

    < ![CDATA[RUMOURS ARE CIRCULING THAT WE ARE GOING TO OFFER 10MIL PLUS GALLAS FOR JUVENTUS DEFENDER CHIELLINI HE IS ONLY 24 AND IS A TOP DEFENDER AND HE IS GOOD IN THE AIR

    DOES ANYONE THINK THIS IS TRUE OR JUST SPECULATION]]>

  • Pissed off

    < ![CDATA[Kieren and Zohaib enough of all these. Lets play this big, lets focus on our team and knw what to do abt us and not abt them. V P one of my favorite in Arsenal was fustrsting yesteray, but I still think he is better than Martins.

    Ade's attitude was good yesterday,Song is really improving , what is left is the elimination of bad bloods ( Diaby, Denilson and Bendtner) and a bit of flare with precision in the flanks. I still belief strongly that the league is open.At least the game is getting more interesting and am predicting a season with an all time low point,]]>

  • Debs

    < ![CDATA[zohaib I wouldn't really say I'm sad, I'm more or less deflated. Even the guy who usually puts up the match highlights too, seeing as he/she couldn't be arsed to put up the video highlights, last time I checked! lol
    But no worries, I'll be back to my usually positive self before the next game! lol ; )
    And yeah, it made my day that none of the other 'big 3' won, although it would have been sweeter if we won! Can't believe I rooted for Sp*rs! Not a good experience! lol]]>

  • http://kierandelaney.net/blog kierandelaney.net/blog

    < ![CDATA[I've just had enough of hoping. I can't help see that with the rest of the top 4 failing to win, we really needed to get an extra two points and draw closer.

    We're not even in the top 4 anymore and it's beginning to hurt everytime I watch the Arsenal throw away points.]]>