Chelsea Men Crushes Arsenal Boys!

Arsenal never led down the history and statistics. November tragedy continues for Arsenal over the years.Gunners camp might have not expected the crushing they received from the London neighbours. Arsenal started well with an excellant young attacking team. But lost their way as always during the second half. Any team would have struggled to come back against a strong defensive Chelsea team once they are 2 down. During half time Chelsea was leading 2-0. Thanks to the wonderful goal from Drogba and own goal from Vermaelen.

Arsenal started with
Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Traore
Denilson-Song-Fabregas
Nasri-Eduardo-Arshavin
which shows that Wenger played most of his cards down there which was of no use. To me the biggest error was playing Traore in that LB position. Most of my readers might argue I am wrong, but keeping in mind the fact how good Silvestre is in that position will chill your brains. What a miss was that! We should have used his experience and skills when we needed a ready made player for that position when Clichy and Gibbs are down. Wenger never did that. No offense to him, different people different tactics.

Eduardo seems to be in a totally different planet with his awful touches and finishes. He was not at all concentrating on the game. There seems to be some concentration and confidence issue with him which Wenger needs to take care of soon. Arsenal lacked the height inside the penalty box. Chelsea defenders where so confident in clearing off the aerial threat from crosses since they knew the not so tall Nasri, Arshavin and Eduardo cannot impose any damage with head. Traore often seems to be out of position with always allowing the Chelsea wingers free space and time. He often tried to foul the Chelsea players to ward of the threat which is never Arsenal way of playing. Second half showed in the introduction of Walcott for Song, Rosicky for Nasri and Vela for Eduardo. Fabregas lost his mind after the third goal which was from a superb freekick by Drogba.

Another weak link seen in Arsenal defense is the shot stopper Almunia. There was only two players who were not upto the Arsenal grades - Almunia and Traore. Eduardo is a proven played but currently running with bad luck. Arsenal should look for a better goalkeeper in the coming months or else forget about winning. Mannone seems to be a better goalkeeper seeing Almunia's performance. Another one is a striker who has height and can impose some kind of aerial threat. I have written it sometime back too. This is definitely something Arsenal needs in January to progress well. Arsenal played with their regular style but never showed any kind of finishing skills. There was one goal disallowed when Eduardo had kicked the ball out from Cech's hand and Arshavin hit it into the back of the net. Eduardo was lucky to get away without getting a card. Sagna had a wonderful game with lots of runs forward and defensive work. There was one foul he had committed towards the start of the game inside the penalty box but Anelka never claimed for it and never got it.

Arsenal needs to use Walcott in the center position rather than right. With Sagna and Eboue able to use the wings effectively the pace of Walcott can be used in the center. He seems to be an improved player last night with some wonderful turns and dribbles. We will be facing another thriller soon in the shape of a Manchester City team in Carling Cup in two more days time. Manchester City will look forward to fire at all guns since they know they are facing tougher task of entering the top four. With the amount of money they had spend they will surely look forward to atleast win something and that something could be Carling cup. Arsenal needs to find better balance or else will be getting similar results which hurts every Arsenal fan. Arsenal needs to look for better result before the team loses hope and limit themself to just another top four spot. The beauty of league games is you always have a second chance. I hope we chill out Chelsea camp during our next encounter at Stamford Bridge next year. Current Arsenal team requires atleast one more year before they can be complete. This one year includes buying a good striker, better goalkeeper and also offloading some defenders and getting better ones. Above still keeping the team other than this list together. If Wenger can keep this team together in 2011-12 season we can expect another invincible side. Good Luck Gunners the season is never over with one match.

Arsene Wenger Hits & Flops - Episode 2

Lets continue with the Wenger Inc profit and loss making company. Today we would discuss on two of Arsenal's all time great players. The are none other than Thierry Daniel Henry and Robert Emmanuel Pires. They have lot in common. Both are attack minded French players.

Wenger Hit No.2
3. Thierry Daniel Henry

Thierry Henry had earlier played for Arsene Wenger during Wenger's stint in Monaco. He was a left winger during those times. Later he reunited with Wenger during 1999 season for a fee of £10million. Thierry Henry was bought as a replacement for the French forward who left Arsenal. Yes, the guess is right. It was Nicolas Anelka. Wenger understood that Henry was more fit to be a striker than a winger. This time around Arsene Wenger's plan was set and Henry eventually moved to the striking role where he excelled partnering with few world class strikers in the years to come. Henry was a slow starter at Arsenal. He managed to score only on his 9 appearance. 2002-03 was a tremendous season for Henry where he scored 32 goals and provided the team with 23 assists to wrap up. There is nothing much to written about this guy who had been the icon of Gunners camp for few years. Henry had remarkable achievements as a player. Only player to win consecutive golden boot. Most number of goals for Arsenal. Most number of goals in Europe and much more. Eventhough Henry committed his life to Arsenal during an injury hit 2006-07 season, he found himself in Barcelona training room for £24million. Arsene Wenger believed that eventhough it was good for Henry to stay but for club to move on and stop depending on one player this sale had to be made. Henry always told if he is move from Arsenal it would be for Barcelona. He is never considered to be as successful for France as he was for clubs he played for. People often criticized him for his club minded nature. He had scored 174 goals during the 254 appearances he made for Arsenal. Henry was voted Arsenal best player ever later.

Clubs Played For:
1. Monaco
2. Juventus
3. Arsenal
4. Barcelona

Wenger Flop No.2
4. Robert Emmanuel Pires

Pires as he is widely known had a history of showing thumbs down on clubs before joining Arsenal. Remember the fact that he had joined Arsenal after a personal boycott of his previous club Marseille. But his natural attacking game takes of all these thoughts from us. He was signed for Arsenal for a fee of £6million. He came in to Arsenal as a replacement for the void left by Marc Overmars when he moved to Barcelona. Pires led the premiership assist charts and also won the player of the season award during 2001-02 season eventhough he didn't play the last two months of the season due to injury. Pires was the architect of many Arsenal goals throughout his Arsenal career. He also scored goals with no mercy. Towards the end of Arsenal career he often found himself in Arsenal bench. He was best winger Arsenal ever had who scored more goals than all other players except Henry. He often was listed in Premiership top scorer charts. Once he even made up to No.3 spot where Henry was No.1. He also had the highest number of assists in most of the season's he played. His track record never helped in towards later stages of his career at Emirates where Hleb, Ljunberg and Reyes was more preferred. He felt annoyed when he was substituted in the Champions League final with Barcelona. Later this led to the spats with Wenger and Pires never managed to get the contract extension. It was also a big loss for Arsenal financially. Pires moved to Villareal as a free agent. During his departure he said that it hurt him that Wenger lost trust in his abilities which led him to move on. He was substituted in 12mins from start where he wanted to play full game. Eventhough this keeps happening in all footballers career, he couldn't take it. Pires also had an highly successful and remarkable International career with French national team which most of the top class club players struggle to attain. He scored 62 goals during his 189 appearances for Arsenal. He was voted 7th in the Arsenal all time greats which is a wonderful accomplishment.

Clubs Player For:
1. Metz
2. Marseille
3. Arsenal
4. Villareal

Watch out for next Wenger hits & flops in coming days.

Arsene Wenger Hits & Flops - Episode 1

Guys, from today we are starting a new blogging series of Arsene Wenger hits and flops. Most of our readers will be aware of the Arsene Wenger hits. We would like to bring the flops also into limelight. With utmost respect to all the players we start this blog. Please note that none of the players mentioned as Wenger flops are flops on the field. They were all great champions and are still considered greatest in Arsenal history. We are classifying based on the money Wenger spend and profit/loss made on each player featured. The serial numbers entitled for the player is based on our writers interest and does not indicate any significant factor in their game. Let's start with two greats "Nicolas Sebastien Anelka" and "Nwanko Christian Nwosu Kanu". The two N's.

Wenger Hit No.1
1. Nicolas Sebastien Anelka


Anelka's was one of the best signing Arsene Wenger ever got in his footballing career. Wenger created the first gem with his magic through Anelka. At a very young age of 17, Anelka joined Arsenal for a fee of £500,000. He became a regular when Ian Wright the best striker for Arsenal on those days got injured for long term. He won the PFA Young Player of the Year for 1998-99. He was always looking for better salary from his very young age. The problem with anyone who just needs more money is there is always another club who pays more than yours for you. It happened to be Real Madrid that time and who are one of the best money minters always. He was nick named "Le Sulk" for his attitude during those days. Anelka was a gem of a striker which he is still. He had wonderful ability to play well on air, shoot and also dribble. He was also damn quick with the ball. He played for around 3 years for Arsenal and scored 18 goals from his 45 appearances. His career is quite interesting if you could follow. It always fascinates me how he adapts to a new team so quickly. He was an instant success anywhere he went. His professional career started from the grant start he got in Arsenal. Wenger spotted him at 17 and now at 30 he still stands tall among world's best strikers. He was sold to Real Madird for £22million which is 4300% increase for Wenger.

Clubs Played For:
1. Paris Saint-Germain
2. Arsenal
3. Real Madrid
4. Paris Saint-Germain
5. Liverpool
6. Manchester City
7. Fenerbahce
8. Bolton
9. Chelsea

Wenger Flop No.1
2. Nwanko Christian Nwosu Kanu

Kanu started off for Arsenal in 1999. He came to Gunners camp for a fee of £4.15 million. Kanu came to limelight after the departure of former great Anelka. He was overshadowed by Anelka's brilliance. Arsenal supporters those days used to chant "Who needs Anelka, when we've got Kanu" during matches. He was always a player with log of tricks. He used to fool the defenders with his wonderful dribbling skills. His wonderful matches include the home win against Chelsea after trailing 2-0 in 75mins. This was a match when Kanu scored a hatrick to cruise Arsenal to victory. He had a trademark two finger salute whenever he scored. He was always used as a super-sub by Arsene Wenger and to be frank Kanu did his job remarkably well too. The flop part comes here. This guy ran out of contract in Arsenal and later joined West Bromwich Albion for a free transfer. Remember the fact that he was voted 13th among the Gunners Greatest 50 players poll. He made 110 appearances cracking 30 goals and most of it as substitute during his 5years in Arsenal. He had won African Player of the Year award 2 times and his performances in International Level are notable. He helped Nigeria to get Olympic Gold defeating wonderful Brazil in finals. Kanu's significance became a question mark after the emergence of another Arsenal great Thierry Henry.

Clubs Played For:
1. Fed Works
2. Iwuanyanwu Nationale
3. Ajax
4. Inter Milan
5. Arsenal
6. West Bromwich Albion
7. Portsmouth

Watch out for more Arsene Wenger hits & flops on our next blog...

Arsenal wins at Emirates againt Standard Liege

Arsenal started with a good attacking team and later on went on to win with the help of two first half goals from Nasri and Denilson. The final score remained 2-0 and second half was not eventful except for Gibbs's injury. As all other teams Standard Liege also was determined to take down Gunners with their body. Arsenal sustained lot of physical damages and some inducing by themself. Gunners started off wonderfully well, attacking with all cylinders.

Almunia
Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs
Fabregas-Song-Denilson
Nasri-Vela-Arshavin

Personally I was happy to see Vela upfront rather than Eduardo who with all respect is a tremendous finisher but seems out of form now. Arsenal missed many chances to score until Nasri found the back of the net from a long ball from Vermaelen and later Denilson finishing from a thunderous long range shot. Earlier Arshavin got in way of a Vermaelen shot which was destined to goal. Arshavin fell shocked with the strike on his head. Later with a wonderful cross Fabregas was trying to setup Arsenal but unfortunately Gallas and Arshavin collided in air and shed some blood. Arshavin got few staples on his head during the second half and Gallas never came out of the tunnel due to the shock. Silvestre came off from the bench to provide cover in the back instead of Gallas. Eventhough Denilson had a good start for his season after the injury in September, Alex Song was the best again. This is the third game in row that I am not able to find another player for the Man of the Match. Song was great in holding the ball, passing, marking and infact last evening saw some commendable runs from the Cameroon international.

Fabregas was often targeted by the opponents for a push or a knock. He persuaded the referee to give a red card for a Standard Liege player for a push on him. He himself acquired an Yellow card during the whole drama. Later Gibbs was terribly challenged by No.22 which made Gibbs sidelined for next 3 months. This had been a bad challenge and the creepiest part is that No.22 was trying to foul Gibbs all through the match. Finally he was successful by 87mins. Arsenal brought in Walcott for Nasri and Rosicky for Denilson to induce pace and creativity. Towards the final stages of the match Arsenal was playing a 4-4-2 with Vela and Arshavin upfront. Eboue had few good runs and also shot at goal too. Rosicky showed some fine touches coming off the bench meanwhile Walcott troubled the right flank defenders with his illustrious pace.

Arsenal missed Robin Van Persie's presence in the center for sure. This had been quite evident from last two matches. Eventhough people curse him at times for the misses he makes, this was the truth. He gave us power and confidence up there with his creative touches and wonderful strikes. Arsene Wenger had confirmed that Arshavin will play against Chelsea and was confident about Gallas playing too. We still need to improve our marking during dead ball situations. Last evening we were lucky to come out without much damage considering the chances we gave in freekicks and corners. This is a definite negative for Arsenal and against a good opposition it will be very difficult to stop them. Let's wait and watch how it unfolds when they play Chelsea this weekend.

Sunderland keeps Arsenal silent and wins 1-0

This game showed the real problems we need to address in our team. Arsenal played well and deserved to win today except for their finishing flaws. Eduardo and Rosicky are two excellant players who seems to be out of their form now. Rosicky gave away the ball very cheaply in lot of occassions and Eduardo was trying to setup people rather than taking chances. We need a player upfront who is bit selfish and can try to take a chance or two by taking shots. Arshavin is one such player but he was on the bench until 60mins. Team looked extremely strong on the bench and ground.

Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Traore
Fabregas-Song-Ramsey
Nasri-Eduardo-Rosicky

Subs: Arshavin, Walcott, Vela, Eboue, Mannonne, Silvestre and Denilson

Considering the fact that we still have Robin Van Persie, Bendtner, Diaby, Wilshere, Clichy and Djourou injured, its some big squad. This squad could be a neighbours envy. But the way they are broken apart is commentable. There is a pattern to the matches Gunners are losing. Arsene Wenger should know that better than me, but still I would like to make my point.

Last evening we saw Sunderland deploying tactics to just break play and wait for their corner and freekicks. This wonderful not so tough tactic is paying off well for our opponents. Everyone knows what is Arsenal's weakness. It could be compared to Indian cricket team which once had a weakness playing shot balls by pace bowlers. So once we know people are taking advantage of our weakness we should work towards it. Gunners fall when the opponents employ people just to break play. There was no interest seen by Sunderland team other than to break play and then pass a long ball to Bent. Every Sunderland player looked to attack the ball and play with aggression were Arsenal players just moved of. Fabregas particularly was getting disturbed by the tactics. He was often targetted which breaked Arsenal play. Eduardo seemed to be too concerned not to fall in penalty box. We can see he was trying to stand when he was falling in real.

Arsenal should not play Ramsey and Fabregas together since they are similar kind of players and if played together gives very less company for Song to setup attacks. Also last few matches I saw Ramsey too much interested to play offensive and not completing his defensive responsibilities well. He also gave away balls easily. This shows that there is still more to develop for this youngster who was rated as the best upcoming player by our readers this month. We need to make our players understand how significant it is to become tough enough to fight off such plots. There is nothing taken off from Sunderland here. They deserved their win since Arsenal once again proved they fall for such tactics. Arsene Wenger should look to refine his game plan for next match and since its a home one I would like to see we win. This loss made Chelsea 8 points clear and gave ManUtd an upper hand. Hope we covers this in coming days.

Wenger's View

Arsenal kills off Wolves threat!

Gunners started off nervous as usual. Maybe young guns feared the set piece threat that Wolves were claiming too much. After about 15mins from kick-off, Arsenal started kicking in. We were unfortunate to lose Diaby to injury and not heard on the severity ever since. Alex Song was rested today when the game started.

Arsenal line-up was different from other ones that we had been seeing off late.

Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs
Fabregas-Ramsey-Diaby
Arshavin-van Persie-Eduardo

We saw Ramsey coming in for Song, Gibbs for the injured Clichy and Eduardo starting.
Arsenal bench needs a mention here for its strength. I was so happy to look at the bench last night and was guessing how it would look later this year when our injured players are back and hoping no one plans to join injury club.

Mannone-Senderos-Silvestre-Eboue-Nasri-Rosicky-Song

Arsene Wenger seems to be keeping his promise to Ramsey by giving him good chance to play and grow at such an young age of 18. There were very less stand out performances. It was more of a team game. Eduardo forced Zubar to score an own goal from a Fabregas freekick and later Eduardo's chip was deflected by Craddock for another own goal adding to Wolves misery. The other two goals came from a beautiful layoff from van Persie for Fabregas who finished it with ease. Arshavin scored a beauty from a Fabregas corner when goal keeper had pushed the ball off away to find Arshavin's feet. Alex Song had to come off bench for Diaby due to injury. Eduardo was substituted with Rosicky and Nasri came in for Arshavin. There was no damage done by Arsenal side after 66th minute strike from Arshavin. Nasri-Fabregas-Rosicky combined well for many attacks without finding the back of the net.

Eventhough I would tell it was a team performance and individual hard works were not that notable, still I would pick Alex Song as the player of the day for two reasons. One, he brought in the much needed strength and belief in the middle since Arsenal was able to attack comfortable once Song came in as substitute. Till then Gunners were finding it tough. That made it clear he is controlling the Arsenal engine.
Two, he was instrumental in defending, marking and clearing off the balls whenever needed and also in setting up attacks with Fabregas. He brought in the physical presence and strength which was missed in the opening 24mins in Arsenal camp.

Arsenal guns through AZ!

Gunners were very much in cruise control by half time with wonderful goals from Fabregas and Nasri. Even though the match ended 4-1 with two goals from Cesc, one each from Nasri and Diaby, Arshavin was the creator for the 3. Wonderful assists by Arshavin proved to be too strong for the AZ. Arsenal started with a good team with

Almunia
Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs
Fabregas-Song-Diaby
Nasri-Van Persie-Arshavin

Arshavin was the main man for tonight with good creative assists tearing the AZ defence apart. Eduardo, Rosicky and Ramsey came off the bench for van Persie, Arshavin and Fabregas by 70mins time. Arsenal gave away a good sweet finish by Lens during the dying minutes from a counter attack. Almunia never expected such a good finishing by Lens. Fabregas seems to be in a goal scoring mood of late and once again van Persie took rest without doing any harm to his native team. Overall Arsenals performance was satisfactory and could also see a smile on Wenger's face which means it was all as planned. Arsenal are currently group leaders with 10 points. Next they play Standard Liege in Emirates.

Alex Song had been excellant with his ball control and ball winning throughout the season. We should be looking for a cover for this guy in case he gets injured or attends the African Nations Cup we are in trouble. Maybe boss has something on his mind. Denilson will be soon fit next month and he is the only other player who can play Song's role near to what he is doing now. Diaby cannot be trusted in this role since he tends to go forward too often. Fabregas should not be shifted back to this kind of deep playmaking role seeing the current run at goals by him. Diaby was disciplined today unlike his normal straying around.