Arsenal F C (Pride Of London)

[StephenG]

I see that, according to my local newspaper, that Thierry Henry was full of praise for Jonathan Woodgate after his stellar debut performance for his home town club (Middlesbrough).

[SE13]

Well, the facts as we understand them, was that during the "tapping-up" saga, an offer of ninety thousand English pounds per week was tabled in the direction of Cashley, and he subsequently asked Arsenal for a pay rise to match it, although at the same time denying any involvement in the scandle, and later stating that Arsenal forced him to do it. Arsenal held at fifty five thousand English pounds per week, and repeatedly stated that no player was bigger than the club, and that they were not prepared to raise their offer, after all, he had just signed a four year extention to his existing contract, and agreed to the wage offer from Arsenal.

Personally, I wash my hands of him. All the latest garbage spouting stinks of "I want to sell my book", where he will allegedly uncover some dirt about the Arsenal board, and management. I smell a law suit here!

Meantime, it was great to see Jonathon Woodgate playing in England again, it is just a pity he had to pick Arsenal to be his first game to shine, and wave at England manager Steve McClaren again! For his sake, I hope he can remain injury free.
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[LovejoyLass]

I read today about the 'special away shirts' for tonights Champion's League clash against Hamburg. Because both teams are sponsored by Emirates, one side has been asked to change, therefore as Arsenal are away from home tonight, they will change their shirt sponsor and it will have DUBAI written on the fron in black writing.....
Does anyone know why?!

I also read that Fabregas is to sign a deal that could keep him at the club for a furthur eight years.... What are the Arsenal fans views on this.... It would be fantastic to see him stay at Arsenal as he has done so well for himself, and he will only be in his late twenties once that contract expires.

To any Arsenal fan, what is the starting line-up looking likely to be tonight and what are you hoping for the result to be?
I have read that Theo Walcott could get his first full Arsenal debut tonight as well... He's looked decent, and at his age playing in the Champions League will be difficult, what's the views on him playing?

I am going to go with an Arsenal win tonight, but it's definately not going to be easy.

[SE13]

Well, apparently, Theo Walcott is likely to miss the game due to some sort of injury, which went totally unreported until the moment Arsene Wenger was asked about whether or not he would start tonight. I guess that means Adebayour will be up front, which is a bit of a concern, especially as right now, he could not hit a barn door with a shovel!

As for the shirt, and subsequent replica shirt scandal... Who dreams this up? Yet again, the supporter is going to get another wallet bashing just to keep up. It is utter madness. Why should it make any difference what name is displayed in the sponsor area of the shirts?

There really are times when I wonder who or what controls these muppets making these insignificant, pointless and furthermore costly decisions.
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[woosaah]

Rosicky's goal was super! I hope to see more of those go in, especially in the Prem. Although 2-1 isn't exactly a great scoreline, it was a really good game for the boys. I can't say too much about the game as I didn't catch it but I did manage to see the goals, so as always I'll wait for SE13's review.

As for the Arsenal - Man U. game tonight, Walcott might start, though Wenger prefers Adebayor as he sees him as more of a central player,

[Shearer's Shirt]

I watched the Arsenal versus Manchester United match, I was expecting something more explosive to be honest. It was a good game with a Gilberto penalty saved by the young stand-in goalkeeper, Edwin Van Der Sar is apparently ill. Was surprised to see Thierry Henry not in the starting line-up, is he injured? All in all a quite impressive one goal match, to Arsenal, I felt the game could have gone either way. No doubt one of you Gunners fans will do a more indepth match report as I kept checking to see how the Newcastle versus West Ham United match was going.
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[SE13]

At last, Arsenal kickstart their season with a win over Manchester United at Cold Trafford. It was a game we totally bossed, dominated, and actually looked more like the home team.

I thought the penalty was a bit harsh, so maybe justice was delivered when Gilberto Da Silva slipped as he struck the ball, allowing the goalkeeper to make a relatively easy save from the spot-kick. Then, just as I was sat here cursing our luck, and swearing at Arsene Wengers team selection, especially the inclusion of Adebayour, up he pops with a priceless goal.

Thierry Henry picked up an injury whilst playing for France in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, which explains his absence, although I did think that this was some sort of a mind game by Arsene Wenger into the face of Sir Alex Ferguscum, though it would seem that this is not the case at all.

So now the season is well and truely under way, I hope that Arsene Wenger and the lads can build on this phsycological advantage, and push onwards and upwards.

The Mighty Red Army march on.

Just a brief mention of The Champions League game away to Hamburg of Germany in the middle of last week, where Tomas Rosicky really proved his mettel. Great goal, and an all round excellant team performance. I believe this victory really put the players minds firmly into focus for the game with Manchester United. Apologies for not writing a better report, but I was rather busy last week with one thing and another, but more of that in a different thread.
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[West_ham_hammer]

I thought it was a very lucky win for Arsenal. Manchester United did look out of sorts. But I think a draw would have been a far better reflection of the game.
Plus I really wanted /Manchester United to win. Then I could have laughed at all my Arsenal supporting mates when Arsenal were in the bottom three of the english premiership. You know what they say, 'once you go in the relegation zone, it's hard to get out again'

[SE13]

I fail to see how that can be classed as a lucky win for Arsenal, in a game they totally dominated. We outclassed Manchester United in all departments of the field of play, and restricted them to almost no chances on goal. In fact, a heavier scoreline might have been a better reflection of events, and had the penalty gone in, we would be talking a two gol winning margin, and possibly even more, as the goal would have driven Arsenal on harder.

I see your point about the relegation places though.... From a mind game side of things, the heads would have gone down, and everything would be a struggle. However, as I pointed out above, this win will be the cataliyst which kickstarts Arsenals season, and pushes the others for the ultimate honours. A bad start usually kills the season, but just think what a win over the like of Chelsea will do for the team, and the title race in general.
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[The Artist Known As GTM]

I think it was a brilliant win for them and they did deserve it. Nothing lucky about it, but I still can't see them winning the league.

They are lacking that steel and consistency to grind out the results and will probably beat all the big boys but slip up at Boro or Charlton (heheh) and thats where they will lose it.

On MOTD on Saturday they summed it up for me - Chelsea will keep winning and the big boys will beat each other. Man U will probably win the reverse at Arsenal, Liverpool will beat Man U then vice versa.

They will cancel each other out. It was nice (as it always is) to see Man U lose as it opens it up a bit - all we need is for Chelsea to drop a few points here and there (which I think they will) and we could have a "proper" title race on our hands.
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[woosaah]

Arsenal did dominate the game and reiterating what both SE13 and The Artist Known As GTM said, a bigger goal margin would have done the performance more justice. As for Arsenal winning the league, it is possible and this win is obviously a massive boost for the team and should give us the kick start we need to win games and challenge for the title. Like Wenger said, three years is too long for the title.

If we keep performing like we did against Man U, anything is possible. I just hope the boys don't get too carried away with the win and lose their concentration. Hopefully we can get a decent win against Sheffield Utd on saturday and another win against Porto on Tuesday. I suppose the Sheffield Utd game should be a "should win" one.

As for Fabregas signing a 8 year contract, is that official? Has he put pen to paper yet?

[SE13]

As far as I am aware, the eight year deal with Cesc Fabregas is not actually a done deal, but basically it is all down to dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s.

The last I heard was that there was some issue with his wages, due to the fact that he will sign, accepting a certain wage, however eight years down the line, he might well be the lowest paid player in England unless something is written into the offer on the table.
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[woosaah]

Like a yearly wage increase or something like that?

Did you catch the Arsenal - Sheffield Utd match? 3-0 was pretty good. And great to get our first home win at the Emirates too.

It seems like Gallas has had no problem settling down at all, and scoring so early in his Arsenal career too to make it 1-0. An unfortunate own goal to put us 2-0 up, then Henry with a rare header and a goal to make it a 3-0 win.

[Dioufy]

Is It true that Thierry Henry said "my role models are Kevin Davies and Paul Dickov" ? That shock me, least Mr Henry knows a decent striker when he see's one. (minus Dickov) .

I will be going to the Emirates Staduim this season, wild horses could not keep me away.

Good win last night, Hleb scored a peach and Mr Henry's was not to bad aswell.

Good luck on your next few games.......

[SE13]

I am not so sure that Thierry Henry actually did say that, although he seems to draw inspiration from all manner of players both past and presently playing, in any one of many leagues acrosss The Globe!

We are awaiting the official confirmation on the injury set back to William Gallas toward the end of the Champions League game on Tuesday night at Ashburton Grove, and although it first appeared to be a hamstring pull, the official clubsite were quoted as saying that he will miss the game away to Charlton on Saturday at The Valley, and I have heard that his absense could be up to three weeks. I will post anything I hear with regard to this matter.

So to Saturday, and an out-of-sorts Charlton face us, while Arsenal are supremely bouyant after the recent wins away to Manchester United at Old Trafford, the win against Sheffield United at Ashburton Grove, and also in The Champions League. An early goal could see a rout, so lets just hope for something special in the first couple of moments.
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