Arsenal F C (Pride Of London)

[Magpie]

So it's Arsenal v Barcelona in the final. I thought that I'd be in France for it but I'm not travelling until 28th May so it looks like I'll be sitting in front of a TV somewhere with a beer or two. I dont envy the player given the task of marking Ronaldinho!

Fingers crossed for the Gunners...
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[jonmoody61]

No joy yesterday as Bolton went down 1-0 to Sp*rs so we have to win our three remaining games and hope that a West Ham side that’s going to rest players ahead of the cup final can somehow take points from our old enemies. It seems very unlikely.

Ahead of tonight’s game against Sunderland Arsene Wenger says Chelsea will have to look over their shoulders at us as his young team are coming good. There’s no question we’ve got some immensely talented young players and those players will have stepped up a level by the start of next season but if we really want to trouble Chelsea more than twice next season then we need some investment this summer. That, however, is a story for another day. The focus is on winning tonight and against Citeh then hoping Sp*rs **** it up somewhere along the way.

Chairman Peter Hill-Wood was his usual forthright self on the Henry situation, saying:

We haven’t got a clue want he wants to do. He’s slightly moody, too. Some days he’s up, some days he’s down. We hope he decides to stay with us, but I haven’t got any more idea than you have.

The Spanish press have also been full of it and if you believe them we’ve got no chance. According to them if we win the Champions League he’ll have nothing left to do at Arsenal so he’ll leave. If we lose the Champions League and don’t finish 4th we won’t play in the competition next season and he’ll leave. He’s also bought a house here, has been having Spanish lessons, he’s probably getting his ADSL installed already, some jamon iberico delivered and of course there’s that little **** Giuly whose so keen to play with Henry next season he’s talking about leaving for Liverpool. I would suggest the only people who know are Thierry and his missus.

Team news for today will see Ashley Cole return at some point. Whether he starts or not is another question with the boss having been very impressed with Gael Clichy’s return against Villarreal. Campbell will continue in defence but we may see some changes and players rested and rotated. It’s on Sky Sports this evening so a couple of bank holiday beers and the football will make for a grand time.

[woosaah]

Heya! I'm new to this forum but it's so kool that we've got a ARSENAL FC thread!!!

Really hope Henry dosen't leave, though can we really blame him if he does? It'll be great if he finished his career at Arsenal, and the team will be much much stronger next year.

So what do you think is gonna happen with Ashley Cole? Rumors are that he's leaving, but he's another player I hope who dosen't leave. Actually, I hope no one leaves. We've got such a mad team at the moment and we're sure to challenge for everything next season.

Arsenal Barcelona final will be great, fingers cross for a win!

[DreamThief]

I really glad that Arsenal made it to final. I hope that the Gunners will win!
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Carpe diem... carpe noctem!

Regards,
DreamThief

[Magpie]

It occurred to me over the weekend that Arsenal can deny Tottenham Hotspur a Champions League spot. If they win it, they will be given the chance to enter as defending champions after the rules were changed last year when Liverpool won it. So, if Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool stay where they are, they get three CL places and Arsenal get the fourth, hence pushing Spurs down into the UEFA cup, along with West Ham and either Boro (if they win the Uefa Cup) or whoever finishes sixth (currently Blackburn but hopefully the Toon ) in the league. It's all a bit "what if..." but it'll make winning the European Cup all the sweeter if it also means that Tottenham Hotspur don't end up with bragging rights by finishing above the Gunners! It's all a bit complicated but I reckon I've got that right.

As far as Thierry Henry is concerned, he looks to me like a man who's resigned himself to the fact that he's leaving at the end of the season. I reckon Barca have made Arsenal an offer they can't refuse. From what I've seen on TV recently, he just doesn't look like a man who's happy with the world right now and if the decision for him to move has been taken for him, then he's bound to be brassed off about it.
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[SE13]

Well, it has been a while since I posted here, and in that period of time, Arsenal went over to Villarreal in Spain and gained the 0-0 draw required to finally reach The Champions League Final, for the first time in our history. A day I was beginning to wonder if it could ever happen in my lifetime. Thankfully, the players responded, and the moment is fast pressing forward.

I have a couple of options available to me. Firstly, that I should travel down to Islington in North London, and sample the atmosphere with the locals near to Highbury. This is quite a good option, as the area will be totally buzzing and the beer will be flowing.

Secondly, I could travel via the ferry over to France, and take a top-train to Paris, and watch the match on the big screens with the estimated thirtythousand who will travel over to the continent without a ticket.

Thirdly, that a reliable source within my local Football Association can pass on one of the tickets that they are allocated for the fixture, although the news on this will not be known for a few days as yet.

One thing is for certain, I have the time booked off from my place of work, and I have the funds available for either of the three options indicated above.

Bring on Barcelona on May 17th 2006, as I really can not wait. A once in a lifetime chance (possibly) and so close to England too.

Go go Gunners!!!

**EDIT** Just to follow from Magpies post, should Arsenal win The Champions League, then Tattenham Hotspuds final position in The Premiership will be totally irrelevant, which amuses all Gooners immensly, I can assure you!!
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[woosaah]

[Magpie]

I've double-checked and I'm right. If Arsenal win the Champions League, they force Tottenham Hotspur into the UEFA cup. With Blackburn beating Chelsea last night, they join West Ham and either Spurs or Arsenal in the UEFA cup, plus Middlesbrough if they win it.

Which means that potentially there could be eight Premiership teams playing in Europe next season, with either Bolton or (preferably) Newcastle entering the Intertoto Cup for finishing seventh.
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[SE13]

I think that post is a correct summary of the allocation of European places, although apparently, West Bromwich Albion might be in line for a place in either the inter-two-bob cup or The UEFA cup as a result of the fair play league standings.

Arsenal face a potential banana skin trip to The City Of Manchester Stadium tomorrow night to face Manchester City, whose season is over, and for them this will be nothing more than something to bridge the gap until the end of the season. As they have nothing to lose, and Arsenal do, this is why I label it as a potential banana skin. Anything short of the maximum three points will certainly allow Tattenham Hotspuds to clinch that Champions League spot for finishing fourth, although if we were to beat Barcelona in the final of the said competition, they are welcome to it. All the efforts of finally finishing above us (for the first time in well over a decade) will be truely worthless, and laughable!!
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[jonmoody61]

Despite an apology yesterday from Sunderland’s Daniel Smith Arsenal’s players didn’t hold back in their criticism of the tackle which has put Abou Diaby out of the game for the forseeable future. The mild mannered Kolo Toure said:

It wasn’t an accident. He just came in to try to hurt the player, which is really, really bad. They wanted to show desire because they were 3-0 down at half time, but to show desire is not to kick or to hurt the player.

While Cesc, who was looking straight at the tackle assult, said:

I am disappointed with them about this. The game was almost over and we were winning 3-0 and it was an unnecessary tackle.

For his part the Sunderland player showed he’s a real candidate for the brain of Britain, saying:

If I did catch him it wasn’t meant. I sincerely went to win the ball.

“IF?!!” There’s no if about it as a dislocated and fractured ankle might just be, you know, proof that you crocked him. He was nowhere near the ball either and his jumping lunge, studs first into Diaby’s ankle makes him either the worst tackler since Paul Scholes or a liar who got frustrated and decided to do his opponent. Look at the picture in The Sun. He’s not looking at the ball because the ball is not attached to Diaby’s ankle. I’m sure he didn’t mean to injure him as badly as he did but he certainly didn’t mean to get the ball. Anyway, he’s off down the leagues, like Sunderland, so hopefully he’ll get what’s coming to him which is the non-descript career his ‘talent’ merits.

On to other things. After being linked with a move to Sevilla yesterday the Spanish club have played down suggestions that Lauren could leave Arsenal this summer. There was some talk of him being used to pay a part of the Reyes fee but with potentially so much experience on its way we need to hang onto some of the ‘old guard’. Also, as exciting as Eboue is I still think he’s got lots to learn and Lauren can show him the way. To my mind he’s still a better player than the young Ivoronian Coastian and it’s vital we keep him.

The Mirror has a highly speculative story about Real Madrid and Cesc and a £12m bid. They may want to double that after his match winning display in the Champions League final and we’ll still tell them to go and ****. Speaking of which Lionel Messi has been ruled out of the game due to the injury he picked up against Chelsea.

The tickets for the game were allocated yesterday and already there’s some bad feeling amongst supporters who have been unsuccessful in their bids. The registration system was flawed and there will be doubts that the procedure was run as well as it might have been, especially as there seems to be a decent number of people still waiting for confirmation one way or the other. No doubt we’ll hear more about this over the coming days.

Ok, not much else going on. There’ll be more tomorrow including a preview of the Citeh game. Till then.

[woosaah]

What a game!!! Henry's partnership up front with van Persie looks promising though with Adebayor now also with us, it seems to me that we've got strikers with great pedigree sitting on the bench. But more of that later.

The game against Man City was great! Got me a lil worried for a lil while but then Reyes comes on and scores 2, the last one was a BEAUtiful goal! Now we're only one point behind TottenHAM. Hopefully West Ham can pull off what they did to us in the 3-2 win last month, against TottenHAM next week and we round off with a win and it'll be a great way to end our last season at Highbury.

Anyway, back to the strike partnership, we've got Henry, Reyes, van Persie, Adebayor, possibly Walcott for next season. Assuming Henry stays, Arsene Wenger could play Reyes wide on the left, with Henry partnered by van Persie or Adebayor. But if Reyes is not played in midfield then we've got 2 quality strikers sitting on the bench right? Well I dunno, just thinking anyway. But it is good to have quality strikers to step up from the bench if there is an injury [god forbid] But iI reckon they all need plenty of game time to improve and I would really be gald to see Adebayor work some magic as well as van Persie [The next dutch master].

Diaby's injury from last week is a huge blow both for tha club and for him. He's shown so much potential since joining Arsenal, and he's actually played a huge part in Arsenal's second half of the season revival! Hope he recovers soon.

[jonmoody61]

Well, not a brilliant game to watch but three valuable points nonetheless as we made hard work of beating Man City 3-1.

The first half was pretty dull stuff livened up only by a couple of Thierry Henry runs. We took the lead on the half hour when Thierry played a beautiful reverse pass to Freddie who held off the defender and drilled a left footed shot in to make it 1-0. A timely goal and as Freddie tends to score in batches it’s good to see him back on the scoresheet with Paris on the horizon.

Sadly we let them equalise. They had a corner, and they looked dangerous from set pieces all night, Sinclair headed it back across, Jens to block it and I think it hit his foot and went under his arms and David Sommeil, who spent most of the night trying and succeeding to wind up Robin van Persie, stabbed it home. So all square at half time.

At the start of the second half we looked different though. We had more energy, more desire to get forward and Robin van Persie had two efforts well saved by David James. Things really changed for us though when Cesc came on to replace the hapless Alex Song who is without question, the worst player of Wenger’s time in charge. I really fail to see what he can do that Seb Larsson can’t. Sometimes you get the feeling that the manager will give a young player he has brought in from France more of a chance than a player already at the club and this is true with Song. He is rubbish and wouldn’t get into Sunderland’s team. When Cesc came on we started to play.

Jose and Cesc celebrate...That’s not to say it was all one way traffic because a rather cranky Jens Lehmann had to make two or three very good saves. One from a Richard Dunne header showed why he’s been the best keeper in the league this season. We had to score though because whatever chance we might have of West Ham taking two points of Sp*rs on Sunday I don’t think they’ll beat them so a win tonight was vital for that 4th place race.

With a little more than 10 minutes left we went ahead. Pires had the ball on the right, Eboue sprinted forward - and what a turn of pace he has - got the ball and squared it Reyes whose sidefooted effort was nearly stopped by James but trickled in at the far post. 2-1 Arsenal. City came forward again but about 5 minutes later a quick free kick saw the ball out to Henry on the right, he charged forward, squared it for Reyes and the Spaniard finished with aplomb to put the game out of City’s reach.

Ok, not exactly the free flowing football we’d have liked but it was three points nonetheless. I don’t think our cause was helped by playing somebody like Song who was always there when our play broke down. In a way I feel sorry for him because he is only a young man but there’s absolutely no need for somebody like that to be learning their trade with us in important games. This time I don’t think there’s any kind of rough gem you can polish, Arsene.

Looking briefly at some performances Ashley Cole looked well off the pace which is what you’d expect after so long out but with only one more game before the Champions League final the boss has a big decision to make regarding the left full back position. Sol Campbell was better than against Sunderland, which was good to see, but the cynical amongst us might suggest tha had something do with the onlooking Sven. Also our frailty from set-pieces with him in the team as opposed to Senderos is worrying and to see Campbell being beaten in the air by the gigantic Darius Vassel is worrying.

It’s great to see José and Freddie back in the goals though. As much as Freddie José scores them in clusters so again it’s good news before the final. The more realistic goal threats we have the better. They know all about Henry but we need them to be worried about more than one man. Alexander Hleb looked dangerous at times too. Afterwards Arsene gave his thoughts about Ashley Cole’s comeback and the performance in general.

It does set things up nicely for the final day and I think our match is being showed live on Sky. We all know the permutations and what has to happen for us to finish 4th. It’s time to start digging up your lucky charms (real ones, not Oirish breakfast cereal), lighting candles, praying to whatever God you believe in, and hoping that the final day at our great old stadium is a magic one.

Speaking of which the BBC talk to Liam Brady (the God I believe in) and Charlie George about Highbury and how they feel about leaving it behind. There’s a picture special too.

In other news Boro chairman Steve Gibson becomes the latest in a long line of club Chairman and manager’s to criticise Davin Dein’s role at the FA. It’s not too difficult to see their point either. Boro have just been Tangoed.

And that’s it. An exciting and emotional final day awaits. A battle with the old enemy for a Champions League place and the final ever game at Highbury. I think I’ll get the beers chilling already. Till tomorrow, Arsemates.

[SE13]

Well, down to the final game it goes.... All we have to do is better Tattenham Hotspuds result, although if they win, in view of our single point deficit, that statement is somewhat premature.

Going into the Champions League Final on May the 17th, already guarenteed of playing in next years competition would surely relieve some of the pressure, and allow the players to go out and just enjoy and express themselves, without the added pressure of a must-win game.

So to Sunday, and Wigan Athletic become the last ever visitors to Highbury, on their first ever visit there!! How ironic! I note that they did not take their entire allocation of tickets to allow more Arsenal fans to be a part of the final countdown to the closure of Highbury. Nice gesture, in my opinion.

The entertainment goes on for some two hours after the final whistle, and includes a mini-concert from The Who (Roger Daltrey) among many other things.

Meantime, cast your eyes over one of the very latest images from Ashburton Grove (The Emirates Stadium, to the more choosy few)

[img:0ad2070544]http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/1435/thegrove050520064df.jpg[/img:0ad2070544]
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It feels so empty without a signature, so here is some mindless gabble to occupy the space

[Magpie]

I'm expecting a full and detailed report of the last game it Highbury from Jon Moody. Hopefully it'll be less vague than my blurred recollection of yesterday's events and St James Park. Too many post-match celebratory drinks in The Strawberry doesn't make for a clear and concise match report!

It looked amazing on the TV with everyone wearing the red and white "I was there" t-shirts. A good time was had by all, it seemed - probably made all the sweeter by the Tottenham Hotspur result.

...mind you, the food poisoning incident seems a bit too, erm, "convenient" for my liking!
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[woosaah]

Haha... yeh the food poisoning incident seems to be "convenient" though it could just be a case of wrong place wrong time? Maybe? It dosen't really matter though does it? Tottenham seem to want to consider legal action. Or what have you.

Apart from that, it's great to finish 4th! Especially the way Arsenal got there on the last fixture of the season. Nerve racking but well worth it.

How about Theo Walcott being selected in the England squad? Hope he does well and makes an impact at the world cup, though it is a pity that SWP missed out. Even though he plays for Chelsea, he is a really good player.

Anyway, looking forward to the Champions League Final!