Tag Archives: Arsenal

The Arsenal and Me – Steve’s Story

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I would not be an Arsenal fan if it was not for the great Herbert Chapman from before the 2nd world war.

Herbert Roberts was a cousin to my mother (who has now passed sadly), he played for Oswestry Town (where I still live and play for) and was picked up by Herbert Chapman in 1926,

Herbie Roberts

Herbie Roberts

He went on to play nearly 300 games for Arsenal and had a cap for England , Arsenal then played a 4.2.4 formation (which people said the Brazilians invented in 58) and he played the stopper centre half! At that time Arsenal were the biggest club in the world, and all other teams copied their formation of a stopper, and withdrawn winger ect…

Sadly on Herbie’s part on the 5th time of winning the title he only managed a dozen games because of injury we think, he then worked as a trainer in the reserves after that…..

Herbie then served in the war as a Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers where he sadly died on duty a year or so before the war ended.

Arsenal have been in us since!

Not bad for £200, a lot of money in them days I suppose…. Probably built the town I still live in.

Steve

If you would like to tell your Arsenal story, click here

 

Arsenal about to enter the eye of the storm

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As London and the South of England get’s hit by the worst storm in a few decades, Arsenal are about to enter their toughest period of the Premier League season so far.

With a fairly comfortable start to the league campaign, playing sides whim we beat in the corresponding fixtures last year, as well as one of the newly promoted – and bottom of the table – clubs, it should not really be a surprise to anyone that we are top of the league.

The tough fixtures are about to rain down on Arsenal football club, with use due to play Chelsea, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United within a 13 day period. It will be a season defining period. Defeats could see us out of the League Cup, requiring a victory in Napoli to remain in the Champions League, and doubts creeping into the mindset of the players that we are not good enough to compete with the Premier League’s elite.

Victories on the other hand will be like bright sunshine breaking through the clouds. Imagine the scenario if we get 4 wins from 4. World football will have to take notice of Arsenal football club, and the rest of the season will be very bright indeed.

Our season begins to heat up tomorrow with that League Cup tie against Chelsea. Despite it being silverware, it is understandable that Wenger will shuffle the squad. I would much rather a victory against Liverpool at the weekend, then a victory against Chelsea. The league is more important.

A victory against Crystal Palace should lift the pressure off the club. Had we suffered a defeat against them, we could have been facing a scenario where we potentially lost 6 games on the spin and the stormy atmosphere and Wenger Out cries would have quickly returned.

The Arsenal crowd need to ensure they get behind the side over the next 4 games. The Black Scarf Movement have organised a brilliant initiative against Chelsea which should see a fantastic atmosphere result from it. Hopefully that atmosphere carries itself over to the Liverpool game, and then travels to Dortmund and Manchester.

Get through the next few weeks with our Champions League destiny still in our own hands, and still top of the league, we could be on for a special season.

Hopefully the victories come flooding in.

Keenos

 

Wojciech Szczesny, Olivier Giroud, Substitutions, Alan Hansen, Drums and Spurs New Stadium

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Wojciech Szczesny

Another brilliant game for the big Pole. Two world class saves kept us in the game. The debate is now over. We do not need a better goalkeeper. For me he is now the third best goalkeeper in the Premier League, behind Peter Cech and Hugo Lloris. As long as he does not allow his focus to slip in training like he did at one point last year, here will become one of the best keepers in the world

Olivier Giroud

Oliver Giroud is fit. I am not talking in the looks and body sense (although he is certainly a 10), but the pure physical sense. He had a tough game, with 6ft 3in Damien Delaney not giving him a minutes silence, able to compete with the Frenchman in terms of power and strength. However, with 5 minutes to go, Delaney was sick on the pitch, showing just how hard he was working to keep up with Giroud. 2 minutes later, Giroud got clear of him to score. It highlights how physically fit he is that he could keep going to the 90th minute, whilst his marker struggled past 80. A reminder to those criticising him during the game that a match last 90 minutes, and often a goal late on is due to the good work of a player throughout the game.

Substitutions

Many had a go at Wenger for firstly taking of Gnabry and secondly Cacorla. However, there was method behind his perceived madness. Gnabry for Wilshere was an obvious substitution. Whilst he might have been a good pacey outlet on the right, we needed to shore up the middle by bringing on Wilshere. Between Ozil, Cazorla & Gnabry, there is only one choice, and that is to take off Gnabry. Going down to 10 men is all about keeping the ball. Why take off one of your two best ball retainers? With a midfield of Ozil Ramsey Wilshere Cazorla it meant play would not be breaking down needlessly.

As for the 2nd substitution, taking of Gnabry did lose us the width and with Ozil to wrecking up the right, it was smart to bring Monreal on the left, and we ended up getting a lot of success, with Monreal ghosting in to nearly score, before a Ramsey cross from the left hand side set up Giroud’s goal. I like bringing Monreal on as neither him or Gibbs are shy getting forward, so it enables us to lock down one side of the pitch whilst still maintaining an attacking outlook

Alan Hansen

Whilst the outrage last night and this morning against Alan Hansen for bringing up 3 year old footage of a goal is justified, what he had to say actually made sense. I mentioned to a pal before the Arteta red card happened that leaving Arteta as the last man worries me, due to his lack of pace. If he gets turned, he has no chance of catching up. And the Match of the Day analysis highlighed just how high our two players sit. We should be playing with Gibbs on the halfway line, and Arteta just infront of him. Hopefully Wenger adjusts the way we defend when we attack corners, otherwise I can see opponents exposing us again.

Drums

Please no more drums at stadiums. They are fucking annoying.

Spurs New Stadium

In today’s papers, it was announced Spurs were thinking of building 65,000 seater stadium. The mooted 55,000 was already going to be too big for them. All 65,000 will do is mean more empty seats. They struggle to fill their stadium currently:

Tottenham v Tromoso – 29,000
Tottenham v NK Maribor – 27,089
Tottenham v Lazio – 25,030

Yes, these might be for the Europa League, but you would think if they had 30,000 fans currently not able to go to games, they would jump at a chance to watch Spurs, no matter the competition. Arsenal’s worst attendance at The Emirates was 46,539 for the League Cup tie against Shrewsbury. Spurs – Why do you need a bigger stadium when you do not sell out every game in the current one?

Keenos