Tag Archives: Arsenal

The Arsenal – We can win all of our last 5 games.

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We kind of limped to this position we are in through a mix of bad injuries, lack of signings and a manager whose tactics these days can often amaze, but I do honestly feel the tide is turning and we can go on and finish this season on a high.

Hull – We travel to Hull on Sunday and whilst they are sitting in 13th they are still 4/5 points away from staying up this season. It’s clear the problem with them this season has been not enough goals and having Steve Bruce as a manager. in the Prem this season we have scored 25 more than them. When we played them at home back in December we had a much changed team due to starting a run of 4 games in 10 days and Hull were that bad even Bendtner scored. This has comfortable away win all over it.

Newcastle – They don’t like coming to ours almost as much as we don’t like going to theirs. Newcastle is one of the few clubs whose season is over, they wont get relegated, they wont get into the Spursday Cup next season. The players have nothing to play for, apart from pride and to try and stitch us up, they will do neither and roll over much the same way West Ham did last week. We had a 2nd half backs to wall 1-0 win at Newcastle, a game we finished with about 7 defenders on the pitch, George Graham would of enjoyed that.

WBA – Currently fighting relegation and rightly so after only winning 6 Prem games all season, only bottom placed Sunderland can match them on winning so few. The only thing keeping them out of the bottom 3 is draws, all 15 (fifteen) which must be a record (?) the next nearest is Stoke on 10 draws. They even managed to get a 1-1 draw when we played them earlier in the season. They will be fighting for their life’s, but will think a point is a good result, we will roll all over them at ours.

Norwich – Hopefully by the time this game comes up we have either secured the 4th place cup or Norwich have already been relegated and hopefully both. The last thing we need a week before the FA CUP Final is a battle the game before. If Norwich can still mathematically stay up and we have nothing to play for then it put’s Le Boss in a position were he will be heavily criticized if he plays anything but our best team. We smashed them at our place this season 4-1 with Wilshere scoring the goal of the season, hopefully this will be a nothing game for both clubs. With cup final places at stake maybe a few players will trying to impress that day.

FA CUP Final – Now I hate being over optimistic about any final our history is littered with cup upsets and losing finals to teams well below us, but it’s Hull and its Hull without Jelavic and Long who are cup tied. Hopefully by then we should have a fully firing Ramsey, Ozil, Ox and Wilshere and that will prove to be too much for them. This is the first season in a long time we have been able to win ugly, the first time in a long while that the side have showed real ‘Character’ and i’d take a winning ugly with character all day long to see us win the cup.

WHAT DID SHE WEAR ???

GC

wecandoit

 

 

The FA trying to destroy the magic of The FA Cup

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For a long time, the press have speculated that the magic of the FA Cup is dying. With dwindling attendances across the country, sides putting out weakened teams and it being low on the list for teams chasing titles, teams chasing Champions League spots, teams trying to avoid relegation and teams trying to win promotion to the Premier League, it certainly does not have the razzmatazz that it had in yesteryear.

The FA Cup is a victim of modern football. As teams chase money rather than success, it becomes more important to be in the Champions League, or in the Premier League, than win the FA Cup.

Fans, however, think different. Ask Portsmouth fans, would they rather be in the Premier League still, or be where they are – League Two – with an FA Cup win in recent years. Ask the same to Wigan fans, would they prefer to have stayed up last year, and lost the FA Cup Final, or get relegated but be winners? I think the answers are obvious. When it comes to the fans, the magic is still there. The dream is still alive. Which is why the behaviour of the FA shockens me.

Whilst clubs do not care too much for the FA Cup anymore, and the media see it as an inconvenience – hence their continual writing down of the FA Cup – the fans still love it. It is still the brilliant old competition it always has been. It is still silverware. A chance for a party on the streets. The FA seem to be doing their best to destroy their own competition with their behaviour around the FA Cup Final.

Kick-off Time

Saturday 3pm, that is when the FA Cup should kick off. This gives enough time in the morning for fans throughout the country to get to the game, whilst time after the game to get home. However, in 2012, the FA decided to change the kick-off time to 5pm. The reasoning behind, as always, was to satisfy TV companies, who felt that a 5pm kick-off time would garner more viewers, both in the UK and abroad.

This shows a blatant disregard for the fans who are important, those in the stadium. The FA Cup is possibly a 3 hour event. Normal time, extra time, penalties and the trophy ceremony. With the 5pm kick-off time, fans have got to be prepared to still be in the stadium up until 8pm. It can then take over an hour to get back to Wembley Station, back to Kings Cross, to catch a train home to where the fans live.

If you were looking at train times, you would be crazy to book anything earlier than 9pm. The last train out of Kings Cross back to Hull is 9.35pm. This leaves little time for anything after the game. Fans of Hull will have to rush back to the station. No pint after the game. No celebrating too long in the stadium if they win. Rather then the FA Cup being an event, the FA, in a chase for TV revenue, are ruining it for the travelling fans.

Even at the semi-final, the Wigan fan pubs were empty as Wigan fans had to rush home to ensure they got a train. This is not right. A 3pm gives everyone enough time to relax after a game, go to a pub for a beer or 6, have a bite to eat, and still get home before Match of the Day starts.

Allocation

A lot has already been made about the ticketing allocation. For clubs to only get 25,000 each, whilst 17,000 go’s to ‘Club Wembley’ members and the rest to ‘the footballing family’ means a little over half of the stadium will be from clubs of both teams.

The problem here is that the tickets for the ‘football family’ will likely end up in touts hands. Tickets are already been sold by ‘legal touts’ such as holiday companies for twice their face value. Whilst I understand that the FA wants to share the final, the fact is that the tickets that do not go direct to the clubs will end up in the hands of fans, at considerably higher than face value. The FA are basically supporting touting.

Pricing

Tell me what is wrong with this picture:

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The FA are greedy. Whilst everyone agreed that the prices for the semi-final were reasonably priced, the prices for the final are not. I understand that it is a final, and prices will go up, but for them to increase by nearly 100% is disgraceful.

The FA are killing their own competition with greed. They have become part of the problem. Any romance still in the FA Cup is with the fans who go. It seems the FA want to erode this.

The FA, fuck you.

Keenos

Golden oldies move Arsenal to 4th

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When Olivier Giroud is your youngest outfield player, you know something is wrong at Arsenal.

For a club who over recent years have been synonymous with bringing through youth players, it highlighted both Arsenal’s injury plight, and a slight change in policy within the club.

The average age of the starting 11 was 29, and that included 23 year old Szczesny in goal. Looking through the list of players and their ages, a point could be made that the team was filled with journeymen foreigners. And for much of the game, we played like that.

Whilst a 3-1 score line certainly did not flatter The Arsenal, it was hard fought and a game that man will forget in a hurry. It was a professional performance. A performance you would perhaps associate with a team of experience internationals.

The defence was solid. Whether by default or design, Thomas Vermaelen at left back ensured that Andy Carroll was not able to climb all over the full back as he so often does. The West Ham striker was blunted by the Belgium in his best performance in an Arsenal shirt this season.

Moving through the middle, Arteta was his usual competent self at home. He is certainly a player who enjoys the time and space he gets playing at the Emirates. Kallstrom busy and controlled in the middle, putting in an argument that we should perhaps make his move permanent.

Ahead of them, Cazorla was everywhere, dictating the game, picking up space, ensuring that West Ham’s thugs could get nowhere near, and Rosicky played with his normal directness.

It is the performances of Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski which is so interesting. After a poor start, Giroud suddenly burst into life, as if he remembered how he was playing at the beginning of the season. Bullying defenders. Showing a good touch. Taking on and running past opponents. And a brilliantly taken goal.

Podolski also showed how important he can be. Whilst he is not a central, loan striker, he is not a left winger. He needs to play further up the field, just wide of a central striker, either in a 442 or 433. In the box, he becomes interested, he is electric. And his 2 goals yesterday reminded us that he can be a game changer. Maybe his future lies as a super sub, Coming in to form a 2 man strike partnership?

Perhaps the biggest positive of last night is that Aaron Ramsey came on and showed no ill effects of playing 113 minutes at Wembley. He covered ground, and changed the game, bringing calmness and energy. He also bought the age of the team down considerably.

The thing now for Arsenal is we have players returning from injury. Ramsey is back. Oxlade Chamberlain is nearly there. Gnabry and Ozil are likely to be on the bench for Hull, with Wilshere returning for Newcastle. Add Flamini who is set to return from yet another suspension (he has missed 6 games this season through ill discipline) and things are starting to look a lot brighter for Arsenal.

Yes, it might be too little too late. But it should be enough to see us to 4th and lift The FA Cup.

Keenos