Tag Archives: Arsène Wenger

The Arsenal and Me – Christofer’s story

Leave a reply

Being a foreign fan, I didn’t “inherit” my love for the club from my dad or any other relative for that matter like many of the local fans did. My love started with my favourite player at the time, Fredrik Ljungberg, getting picked up by Arsene Wenger in the summer of 98. I was twelve years old and football was my everything. If I wasn’t playing it at my local club I played it with the kids in the neighborhood or alone in my back garden. Besides from the local top club Helsingborgs IF (Henrik Larssons Swedish club) most of the kids I hung out with back then supported Manchester United. I never did though. There was something off about that club, some sort of smugness which made me dislike them. When Ljungberg then was bought by Arsenal I started to take an interest in the club. I was too young to appreciate Limpar’s time at Arsenal but when Ljungberg arrived everything fell into place. When he came on to make his debut against Manure and scored that goal lobbing Schmeichel I was sold.

From that day my club was the Arsenal. Seeing as we didn’t have the proper channels at home I couldn’t really follow the club in any other way than reading the results in the newspaper, hoping the sports newscast would show some highlights from the games.

It wasn’t until I graduated high school and got my first real job (this was in 2005) I could afford to sign up with Canal +, who at that time owned the rights to the Premier League in Sweden. Being able to watch every game the Arsenal played made my love for the club grow bigger and I felt I had to go over to London and watch a game before the move to the Emirates would happen in 06 and our beloved Highbury would be no more.
My dream finally came true when my sister, who worked as an au pair at the time for a family in London, called me and said that for my 20th birthday she had gotten a hold of 2 tickets to see the Arsenal vs West Brom on april 14th 2006. All I had to do was book the flight over and she would fix the rest.

The game itself was an amazing experience for me. The walk to Highbury from the tube with loads of fans singing and the stadium just emerging from out of nowhere. The atmosphere was just sublime and I had never experienced something like that ever before. Having the whole ground singing and making noise and to top the day of my favorite Arsenal player, Dennis Bergkamp sealed the victory with a brilliant free kick making the end result 3-1 to the Arsenal.

From that day I’ve hardly missed a game and even though I’m far away I still feel very close to the club and am very proud of its history and traditions.

Up The Arsenal!

Christofer
Christofer is red member of The Arsenal Football Club and member of Arsenal Sweden. For details on Arsenal Sweden, click here.
If you would like to tell your Arsenal story, click here

10 Reasons why we will beat Napoli to top the group + starting XI

Leave a reply

1.. Everton was a tough game, we wont have many like that this season, Napoli have to come out for a big win, counter attacking will suit us.

2.. No fresh injuries since our last game, the bench will also look pretty strong.

3.. The home crowd will try to unease our players but we are made of harder stuff these days.

4.. We always make the last 16, this year will be no different. Dortmund need to win and we need to lose 0-3 for us to go out.

5.. Napoli got stuffed at home to Udinese at the weekend and are sitting 3rd in there league, played 15, won 10, drawn 2 lost 3 and are 8 points off leaders Juve

6.. Napoli have shipped in 9 goals in the 5 games so far in the Champions League, we have let in just 3.

7.. Wenger (yes I am giving him some credit) has done well recently in rotating the squad. This game is perfect for Flamini with his experience in Italy, I hope he starts him.

8.. Theo his pace will scare the hell out of them, he should be a must starter.

9.. Let’s hope Wenger and the team have learnt from past experiences, we must finish top of the group to avoid a tricky game next round.

10… Wenger knows. Get this game out the way and his great run of getting out of the group stages continues, 90mins of hard work and a team up for it is all that’s needed.

Likely starting XI – Chesney, Jenks, Per, Kos, Gibbs, flamini, Ramsey, Rosicky, Ozil, Theo, Giroud.

GC
CL

10 Reasons why we will beat Everton + Starting XI

4 Replies

1.. Chesney is on a run of 4 clean sheets in a row, of course this isn’t just down to him but when called on he really is on point this season.

2.. Carl Jenkinson, I’m getting a bit bored with people slagging him off, I like him and not just because his family are big Arsenal fans but of course that helps. The Ball he put in for our first goal against Hull was inch perfect, he didn’t put a foot wrong all night. Yes he is no Sagna and they are big boots to fill but I urge people to look at his work rate and how much he is improving before taking the easy route of he’s not good enough.

3.. Gibbs, nice to see Wenger use rotation wisely mid week and yeah Monreal had a good game but Gibbs (another boyhood Arsenal fan) should be back today and refreshed. We are blessed right now to have good cover in both full-back positions.

4.. Arteta, To be fair he gave his best years to Everton and if it wasn’t for Fabregas doing a bunk we would never of signed him but I’m glad we did. He has grown into the defensive midfield role as well has keeping his natural urge to play sexi football. He will want to put in a performance against his former side.

5.. Everton, will not be a pushover, sitting pretty in 5th having just won at Old Trafford and with a new manager whose taking a chance with some exciting young players.

6.. Everton’s Prem record – Played 14, won 7, drawn 6, lost 1,the fewest in the Prem. But they have lost 14 of the last 17 visits to us.

7.. Giroud will be back after being rested mid-week, thank god as his replacement wasn’t upto much and clearly wasn’t even fit enough to last more than 70mins in a game we dominated.

8.. Ozil, it’s almost getting to the stage where I hope he looks quiet as he is always so deceiving, one moment it looks like he hasn’t touched the ball in ages the next he is slotting a ball in and bang, goal.

9. Theo, again I can see him starting on the bench, but I want him back and on form. Let me remind you that last season in the Prem he scored 14 goals and had 13 assists, that’s a goal or an assist every 84 mins he played and more or less all from the right side of the pitch.

10.. Wenger knows – we have a run of 4 tricky games starting with today but 6 points in our next 3 Prem games will see us sitting on top whilst we all tuck into our turkey this year.

Likely starting XI – Chesney, Jenks, BFG, Kos, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Jack, Santi, Ozil, Giroud

GC

manutd