Wenger:This win shows we are matured tactically
Source:Arsenal.com
"West tried to lift the ball and go for the direct way. We were a little bit cautious. We had a little apprehension because we lost last year. At the start we played with the handbrake a little bit. Then we scored the goal and in the second half we put the ball down.I think the game yesterday was balanced,with both teams have equal chances and attacking opportunities.And yes,if we lost to a team sometime ago,you tend to be scared when we play against the same team sometime later.Persie's goal was because Persie was clever enough to be suddenly came from behind and headed for Gunners lead.
In second-half on the other hand,I think that West Ham dominate more for first 20 minutes of 2nd half.I don't think Gunners had any domination in that game.As I said before,both teams had same possession and chances to score.But Gunners have been more stable for attacks as well as defense.This is the 2nd time I saw how Gunners defend this season;but it's quite the same with the way we defend against Blackburn but we made more counter-attacking now than the game against Rovers.
"We had a lot to deal with in the air with the long ball and with the second ball, so it was important for us to keep the pace of the game high. It is natural to slow the game down when the ball goes in the air. At half time we had to say 'Ok let's up the pace and play more than we did in the first half'. I think that shows the team is maturing tactically."In EPL,we must deal with that.Physical play,high balls and long balls,referees errors etc.The latter one must be dealt by all teams in this world;not only EPL teams.To be great we must overcome problems opposed to us.Same goes to us in our life,we must overcome problems to be great.
The pace in second-half was getting higher really,with more dangerous attacks from both teams.Thats make the game more interesting to watch for.
"I don't think Hleb will play on Tuesday because he cannot walk properly at the moment."This is very bad news to us;this means he could not feature in UCL game against Steaua.He had just injured before and now he will have to miss more games.
I will post my EPL analysis tomorrow.
- The ball is too near to goalkeeper,therefore goalkeeper has a bigger chance to save the ball.
- Sometimes our opponent was defending against us and they packed 10-11 players in front of their goal,therefore there are a lot of legs that could block our passes.
- I have moved to a new site
- Gunners made offer for Mikel Arteta
- What a relieve!!!!!!!!
- Arsenal vs. Portsmouth match preview
- Ooops!!!!We dropped points again
- Aston Villa vs. Arsenal match preview
- Arsenal vs. Liverpool match preview
- Arsenal drew AS Roma in knock-out stage
- Eduardo to make comeback tonight
- How long the transition period could be??
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Gunners head on for 6th win in EPL
Arsenal beat Hammers just enough to get the three points.
But I'm glad with it.
Away games are always dangerous to us and this game applies hardness to Gunners as well.Arsenal could be just winning the possession by 60-40,55-45 etc.
Anyhow,Gunners broke the dead-lock in just 13 minutes after the game started,thanks to Persie's header which is resulted from Hleb's cross(if I'm not mistaken).
West Ham reacted quite aggressively after that,with quite a lot of shots from Ashton as well as our senior,Ljungberg.They also reacted quite physically and as a result,I think Hleb could miss the next game against Steaua Bucharest.
In second-half,Hammers kept hammering around Gunners goal until 63rd minute when Gunners started to take control of the game.Persie gunned a shot to make his second goal of the game but the goalkeeper was just good enough to keep it to just went to post.
Then,it's a controversial time when Ljungberg's goal was considered off-side.I didn't care whether the goal was actually off-side or not,it's useless since West Ham can't appeal for it actually.Referee do make mistake too but their mistake was usually does not cost the referee a big cost,though it may cost teams a lot.
Anyhow,we can still stand on top of the table,at least for now.
Friday, September 28, 2007
West Ham vs. Arsenal preview
First,I'm sorry for not posting yesterday because I didn't find anything interesting to talk about Gunners yesterday.
Now,it's of course interesting since we can see our beloved team play again:)
But it's against our bogey team,West Ham.Talking about our record against them last season was simply terrible for us.Actually it's nothing if we lost 1-0 away but the worst is Wenger suddenly over-reacted with over-reacted Alan Pardew(he's current Charton's manager now) and that made a bad image for Wenger.But anyway I don't think anyone who could look down at him now.
Let's see EPL's top 7 team's statistics;
| Pos. | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 16 |
| 2 | Man Utd | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| 3 | Man City | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 12 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 11 |
| 7 | West Ham | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
Hammers are doing quite well this season,they could even rival Chelsea if they win their one match in hand but we would not allow that since this will cause us to lose our precious 3 points isn't it.
While quite a lot of Gunners are injured and could not feature in this game including Gallas,Lehmann,Sond,Rosicky,and now Eduardo ,a lot of West Ham's player are fully recovered.This means we must be prepared to face Hammer's full-forced players with our players.This will really test our team's performance and is really Arsenal has really improved or Gunners are just taking advantage of their last EPL schedule.
I'm confident that Gunners could win the game 3-1,although lots had been saying that West Ham is our bogey team,but think again Gunners are still have superiority over them.When you said West Ham has good start in EPL,Arsenal is even better start than them obviously.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Arsenal progress more in Carling Cup
I'm not watching the match actually but let's look at the highlight below;
I think if we really watch the game we will really be worried for 80 minutes of the game.Arsenal's goal came at a very late time,83 and 89th minute.
Given had done well to cope with our bullets from all direction and of course,our new goalkeeper Fabianski wasn't bad too;he too saved some dangerous attacks from full-forced Newcastle.Credits should be given to Senderos too,if not because of his quick response to kick the ball away from out goal I think Arsenal will have to replay the game at St. James Park.
If you ask me about how well Gunners perform in this game,I will say they perform quite well but we are not really tested fullt yet but I think Magpies test is quite tough too to pass,and I'm glad that we are able to pass this "test".Newcastle has improved considerably and they stand on 5th place in EPL,which means they are quite a tough team to play with.
Wenger is very glad with that and even quoted that all our players can play in the first team.
Source:Arsenal.com
"Yes, you [the press] accused us of over-playing, now we score headers and long distance goals - we listen to your advice!"That's the main change in Gunners style of playing that enables us to improve this season.Gunners is more flexible now,they could pass well and they can shoot well too.If there are too much defender packed in our opponent's defense,we could shoot the ball from some distance.Our opponent now has to guard more against us.
"He's(Diarra) ready to play at that level without any problem. We got him, yes [from Chelsea], and I must say for much less than was announced in the papers. Just two-million."Oh,I see that.
Liverpool on the other hand win too on two goals margin,but it's 4-2 against Reading.I think they did well too to score 4 goals away from Anfield.
Let's see how Man U and Blues progress in Carling Cup.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Arsenal vs. Newcastle match preview
I will begin with Sam Allardyce's quote that he know the way to "rattle" Gunners.
Source:FansFC "We must make sure that the players are aware of how we managed to beat them at Bolton. If they take that on board, they'll have a chance."
Yes,I admit that Bolton,under Big Sam's guidance had a good record against us.But wait,I think Arsenal's record against Sam's tactics have been improving.I don't think he could use the same tactics and strategy last season to beat us.But well,maybe he analyzed our game and he managed to find some flaws in our game.
But I think this is a suitable time to unleash our younger players and of course,we must play too some more experienced player to assist them and to save the game in case our kids fare poorly against full-forced Magpies.But fortunately Owen will not feature in this game because of injury.Weird isn't it,Owen spent most of his time with injury.
Some rotation will be necessary as our schedule is very tight,using the same players for all the time will KOed the players and the results?Just like last season when we lost all the three championship is just 11 days.But I really hope that Arsenal could at least draw with them;we don't want to lose at Emirates.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Premiership analysis 25/9/07
As usual,let's take a look at current EPL table;
| Pos. | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 16 |
| 2 | Man Utd | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| 3 | Man City | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 12 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 11 |
| 7 | West Ham | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 9 | Everton | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 10 |
| 10 | Blackburn | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 11 | Portsmouth | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 9 |
| 12 | Wigan | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 13 | Middlesbro | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 8 |
| 14 | Birmingham | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 8 |
| 15 | Sunderland | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 8 |
| 16 | Reading | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 7 |
| 17 | Fulham | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 14 | -2 | 6 |
| 18 | Tottenham | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 5 |
| 19 | Bolton | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 4 |
| 20 | Derby | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 20 | -16 | 4 |
A lot of this weekend's match result is in favor with Gunners.Teams ranging from 2nd from 7th place drop points(Except Man. Utd which beat Blues 2-0) and Arsenal gain another three points and another 5+ goal difference,making us the greatest goal scorer as well as greatest goal scored:goal conceded margin.Some may argue that Gunners are not really tested yet,they haven't played with Liverpool,Man. United and Chelsea.Yes,it may be true but I think we must beat smaller teams first before beating all the big teams.In fact in Premiership we didn't need to win all the match against the another "Big Three",all draws will be suffice.We just need to get about 90-100 points and the chance to win the EPL title is pretty high(I haven't see yet a team which get 100 points in EPL,could Arsenal be the 1st?).
It's frustrating to see Gunners could beat or play well against the big teams but played poorly against the smaller teams,just like last season.I recall Wenger's analysis that shows we can be EPL holder last season if the EPL teams just consist of "Big Four".But sadly EPL games is not just against the Big Four only;we had a lot of teams to play with.Take Liverpool as example,they could drew or even beat Chelsea at Anfield last few weeks but failed to win Birmingham at Anfield.Aren't Liverpool fans disappointed with that?
The match between Man.U with Blues has always been an attention on all football fans our here.With the departure of Mourinho from the team,the match is even more interesting with the new coach,Avaham Grant took the hot seat in Blues.Well,Man U beat Chelsea 2-0 and I personally think that Chelsea lost the game because they played very poorly;the way they played the game is boring and they didn't plan an attack seriously.They just cross the ball,pray for God to head or shoot the ball into the net.That made a difference between Red Devils and Blues I think.Feel free to disagree with me and let's have an argument about that.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Wenger on Adebayor:He's really strong now.
Source:Arsenal.com
As usual,I have comments on Wenger's comments
"He(Fabregas) had a little calf problem at half-time. The game was over and I wanted to take him off, but he saw I wanted to take him off and quickly took advantage to score a goal. That is amazing because it tells you how much the psychological boost comes from the confidence you get from the goals you scored before, because if you had not scored the other six he would not even try to shoot today."I hope his injury wouldn't be serious.As I said yesterday,it's very irritating to be injured when your form is at maximum.But I don't think he scored the goal because he knew that he was to be substituted soon.If Wenger let him to play for full 90 minutes,is Fab going to shoot it wide?I don't think so.
"I feel he(Walcott) had the type of defender who didn't give him any room, in the first half he struggled a little bit to find any space. In the second half he looked more himself because I asked him to come more inside to get the ball. When he stayed out as a winger, Griffin, who has a lot of experience, didn't give him any room. But he has not played for a while. For example you see Diaby came on the other night and had a difficult game - today it was completely different. I link that more with the fact that he has not played recently."
I didn't understand the first sentence(someone please enlighten me!!) but I think Walcott didn't progress well this season because he was controlled by quite an experienced player from Derby and of course,he's still young and therefore his mentality isn't strong enough yet.I think Walcott has the skill but he still lacks confidence as he haven't scored yet.I think the penalty-kick should be kicked by Walcott to give him confidence and feeling to score a goal in EPL.You may argue that if he can't score the penalty-kick then he will disheartened even more.But think once more time,we should believe him more because we spent a lot of money on Walcott.Gunners paid at least 4 million pounds for him,of course we should believe him more,at least have confidence on Wenger's decision of buying him.
I intend to post EPL analysis now but there are a few matches that haven't finished yet now.So,I will post about it tomorrow.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Adebayor scored hat-trick as Gunners beat Derby 5-0
Wow,this is the first time Arsenal won with a five goals margin.
Arsenal broke the dead-lock as early as 10th minute when Diaby made a stunning shot to the top of the goal.Well,we didn't see that last season.
I don't sure at what minute it happened,when Walcott passed to Fabregas and Fabregas immediately passed to him but Walcott just made it to goalkeeper's hand.Maybe Walcottt is still nervous in front of goal.Well,never mind;just finish better next time.It's already near to one year since we waited Walcott to score his first goal.
Fabregas and Adebayor plotted a great pass at 25th minute when Fabregas passed the ball and Adebayor quickly avoided the goalkeeper and bring the ball to Derby's net.
It could be more in first-half but Derby defended well enough to prevent Gunners to score 3rd goal in first-half.
But Derby can't stop Arsenal to keep scoring in second-half.Eduardo was fouled in penalty-box just after 5 minutes after 2nd-half started.But it's Adebayor who scored the penalty and he just slowly shot the ball easily to bring Arsenal 3 goals in front.
Just before Fabregas was substituted by Denilson,he scored again with quite a same shot with Diaby's shot and it went to be Arsenal's 4th goal in the game.
11 minutes before final whistle blow,Adebayor again controlled the ball properly with his chest and scored hat-trick in that game.
I observed Arsenal passed the ball lesser and they started to be more flexible this season,compared to last season when they played more passing and cause them to lose a lot of chances because of three thing.
Because Liverpool and Manchester City just managed to get a point yesterday,Arsenal lead in Premiership is further strengthened.
About Man.City's match against Fulham,it was a really exciting game with equal chances to both teams.This game is enjoyable.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Arsenal vs. Derby match preview
As usual,Arsenal will play EPL games this weekend,but it's going to be against Derby country.
I really hope we could make the most of this game to score more,and strengthens our position as EPL leader.As Chelsea visits Old Trafford when Jose Mourinho is leaving them,I think it's good for us,since there will be one of the teams above that will drop points this weekend.About Liverpool,I think they could beat Birmingham,and when they are playing at Anfield I don't think Reds would drop points against Birmingham.But miracles always happen.
Same goes with us,if we played poorly against Derby,we too could drop points even we are playing at Emirates Stadium.And I'm scared our players could not raise from defeat.If let's say Arsenal lose this match,I'm scared we could not take it,and start falling behind.Please,I don't want this to happen.I don't want incident after Gunners 49 match-unbeaten happens again when they started to quarrel among themselves,and Chelsea just took this advantage to clinch to title for the first time in 50 years.
But I'm sure Arsenal is growing up and they will play well tomorrow.
The key for a good football is to play as a team,and to play with all the players you have.As football is a team game,you must utilize your resource to make the most of your game.
My prediction:Arsenal 3-0 Derby.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Champions League analysis
The happiest thing I know now is Arsenal finished better now compared to last season's finishing.And after seeing Arsenal beat Sevilla 3-0,I have no doubt about Arsenal is doing better this season.
But we have some setback after Tomas Rosicky is injured again.Source:Arsenal.com
But I don't think this will affect our play,although he has a great form recently.Sometimes it's frustrating to be injured when your form is on fire.It is like having a blackout when you are watching your favorite programme.I hope he will recover soon.
Next,I'm shocked that Barcelona beat Lyon 3-0.Since Lyon is quite a strong team,I didn't expect them to lose 3-0 to Barcelona.I'm not going to elaborate more on other UCL teams since I'm not familiar with their play and I'm not watching that match,nor any highlights.
But the most unexpected thing this week is the departure of Jose Mourinho from Blues.I really didn't expect that to happen.I personally think that he should not leave Chelsea,but the fact that Jose leaves Chelsea is unchangeable and Chelsea has immediately appointed Avram Grant and Steve Clarke to replace him.Source:MSNBC
It is interesting to watch Chelsea playing without "Special One" with Man.U this weekend.I hope for a draw between Chelsea and Man.U,since it will benefit us.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Arsenal keep their pay nearlyy perfect,beating Sevilla 3-0
Before we talk further about that let's see the game's highlight;
Although Arsenal won with a quite a big margin,but they only score at 27th minute when Fabregas again shot from some distance but it got some difference with his goal against Tottenham last week,his goal this time were resulted by deflection,which means Gunners had quite good luck at that time.
Then it's van Persie'd turn to score this time.At 57th minute he easily kicked the ball from Fabregas's free-kick into Sevilla's goal,making it 2-0 for Arsenal.
Gunners again scored at extra-time when Eduardo easily deflected the ball again into the net,and of course I think this is the best goal in this game,which I think Arsenal's goal should be like.
Not forgetting about Sevilla,they too had a dangerous attack against us,but Almunia did a good job to keep Arsenal's goal clean.
The main thing I see Arsenal today compared to last year is the finishing;I have to admit that Arsenal has better finishing this season.
Arsenal vs. Sevilla match preview
We had achieved quite a strong performance in EPL,and let's see if we can perform the same in UCL.
Some said Sevilla has a same playing style with Gunners,and I think it could be true because we play like Spanish teams.
And of course Sevilla is a very good team in Spain as well in Europe.We had seem them winning UEFA Cup consecutively for 2 years and recently they won their first 2 games in Spanish Primera Liga,and could rival Real Madrid if they win with more than 2 goals margin in their one game in hand.
But when we said they are very good,we aren't bad as well.Though we haven't win any European Cup yet,but at least we can play every year in Champions League.Sevilla could be considered a new-comer to UCL,while Arsenal can be considered a big teams as well in UCL.
I'm sorry if my statement above has offended anyone,but sometimes I feel that fans need to motivate ourselves.We didn't need to fear them.And I think Gunners has a bigger chance to win because they are playing at home,and our players has high confidence to win the game.We can beat Real Madrid at Bernabeu,why can't we win Sevilla at Emirates?
About Gunners,I think we need to seriously strengthen our defense.We can't make anymore careless mistake.Even we play against Spurs,we had exposed a lot of defending mistakes and I think Sevilla will punish us if we defend like we did at last weekend.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Rusian billionaire increases stake in Gunners
Source:Guardian Unlimited
I thought the takeover issue is over,but it doesn't.
Actually we didn't know what is Usmanov's purpose of taking over Arsenal.If it's for good for Arsenal then it is good.
But if it's for his main profit only,then Gunners could be in big trouble,they could lose their wealth instead.If Usmanov buy lots of players,spends a lot of money and then suddenly leaves the club,the club will be burdened by lots of debts.
Let's say if Roman suddenly leaves Chelsea,Chelsea will be in big trouble because the club will have to pay a lot of debts,the money spent on players etc.
And I don't think we need someone to boost our financial wealth,as Gunners are second-richest club now in Europe.Source:Boom Time
Ok,yesterday I promised my elaboration of the 3rd point and I'm going to elaborate it now.
Why the win is easier in the early of the season?It's because most of the teams are not "warmed-up" yet.Especially if they just invested in lots of players,they will need some time to get their coordination right.But at the end of the season they had already "warmed-up" and it's harder to win against them.
Second,the new-comers are still not motivated enough.I don't think they have really targeted for the EPL title.They just want to stay in EPL,enjoying broadcasting fees from the Sports company etc.
But when the end of the season approaches,some of the teams that stand in the bottom of the table are begin to worry about their relegation if they finish at 18th,19th and 20th place in EPL.Therefore they will play harder,in order to say in EPL and they will do anything to win,and they will try their best to win all the remaining games,even though they are going to play against the big teams.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Fabregas:We must keep winning
Source:Goal.com
I would like to comment on his quotes;
"Last season I had chances and never scored. But this year I've had even less and scored more,"
In football,there are very less or no exact count about how much chance is given to a player to score goal.THe only exact count is how many chances you can convert into goals.There are very less or no such things such as"Player A has 20 chances to score goals" in match reports,reviews but there are such things like "Player A score 2 goals in the game".So it doesn't matter how much chance you have but how you are going to change the chances into goals,which can help you to win the game.
Tottenham,in last few games including the recent ones against Arsenal,they had a lot of chances to score goals,even though they are playing against two of the Big Four,Gunners and Red Devils.Manchester United did not dominate completely in the match against Spurs,Spurs had a lot of counter-attacking chances but they can't finish well.And finally Nani give a deadly shot punishment to them.Same goes to their game against us,they too had a lot of attacking chances.I thought that they deserve to beat us if they finish well enough.
And I think Arsenal have to find a way to counter some team's strategy which tends to be "sticky" with us because it could greatly affect Gunners type of playing.If not,Arsenal success will not for long.
I'm sorry,because I think most of my comments have nothing to do with Fabregas's above quote.
"We need to keep winning, which was what we were missing the last two seasons.
"We lost a lot of points at the beginning, had to come back, and it was too difficult as the teams at the top did not lose any points.
But I think I would like to give a talk about "Why we should head for a earlier win?"
1.Better head start,we have less pressure than we have to "chase" teams.
2.Give more pressure to our opponent.
3.Win is easier in early of EPL season.
Actually about 1. and 2.,it goes about the same.If we maintain our position in EPL and have distance of 4 points from runner-up,we have less pressure than the runner-up because we can still drop some points and can still compete with the runner-up but the runner-up can't drop points;their point distance will be bigger if we continue winning.
About 3.,why I think win is easier at the beginning of the season?I think I will elaborate about this tomorrow.If you disagree with the third statement,go ahead and let me know.Let's debate about this.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Premiership analysis
Let's look at current Premiership Table now,although there are two matches that are not played yet.
Source:Arsenal.com
| Pos. | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| 3 | Man Utd | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 11 |
| 5 | West Ham | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | Everton | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| 7 | Blackburn | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 8 | Man City | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 9 | Newcastle | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 10 | Wigan | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 12 | Birmingham | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 7 |
| 13 | Middlesbro | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 7 |
| 14 | Sunderland | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 7 |
| 15 | Portsmouth | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 6 |
| 16 | Fulham | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 5 |
| 17 | Tottenham | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 4 |
| 18 | Reading | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 10 | -7 | 4 |
| 19 | Bolton | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 3 |
| 20 | Derby | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 15 | -12 | 1 |
This is the first time when I done a Premiership analysis when Arsenal is at 1st place in the Premiership table.With 13 points and 1 game in hand,Gunners definitely have the best of both worlds.
But I'm still worried with Gunners defense.Based on the match against Tottenham yesterday,I think we need to improve our defense.If only Tottenham took their chance yesterday,Arsenal could not come back with all the 3 points.I can conclude that Gunners beat Tottenham because they are bad,especially in finishing and not because of our great play.Yes,Fabregas and Adebayor scored fabulous goal but our defense is quite bad and we could been easily conceded goals if only our opponent is better.We can't let Sevilla gets the same chance like Tottenham;we have to improve more especially in defense.
Next,Liverpool drew with Portsmouth and the worst is Portsmouth's evil journey hasn't ended yet with a away match against Blackburn.Manchester United get back on fire again after beating Everton 1-0.But Man. United can't win with bigger margin(eg: 2-0,3-0) and I think this is not Man United expected performance.
Chelsea had a frustrating draw with Blackburn at Stamford Bridge and I'm sure Jose will be deeply disappointed with the result.Fortunately Roman wasn't went back before the match ends or otherwise the media will take a shot about this.
West Ham,despite playing without Tevez,are doing quite well actually with 10 points in 5 games,and if they can win the game in hand they could overtake Man United and The Blues.
One more,if Man City can win the match against Aston Villa then they could stand at 2nd place in EPL table.
Bolton still cover the bottom of the table and with 1-0 lost to Birmingham,they have to wait for at least a week to get into the middle of the table.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Great score by Fabregas and Ade
Yes,Arsenal beat Tottenham 3-1 and become the EPL leader after 2-3 years for now.
But I think this victory is for Fabregas and Adebayor only,they both scored one stunning goal each,and I must salute them for Fabregas's great Gerrard-like finishing.About Ade,yes he scored two goals but he could score even more if he was more calm and control the ball properly.
About Tottenham,I think they gave their best play and fight against Gunners so far in 5 EPL games.But it was they who presented the 3 points to Arsenal.Their finishing is really bad,just like Gunners in last season's game.Perhaps the "bad finishing wind" blown to White Hart Lane.But Bale's first goal of the game deserved some credit.And they played well too for the rest of the second-half.
Their game was well until Adebayor scored the equalizer and I think Tottenham began to play poorly.I think this could be caused by Spurs player frustration about the goal and Gunners increasing initiative in the game.
And the rest has been bad to Spurs;they finish even poorer and poorer because they were not 1 goal ahead by that time and they get punished by Fabregas and Adebayor.I think their feeling is very bad now and if they can't control their frustration,things could get even worse for them.
Yes,there are some controversial scene where Abou Diaby (if I'm not mistaken) headed in Arsenal's goal.I wouldn't like to comment on this as I didn't see the goal line view yet.I will get into it later.
As Liverpool drew with Portsmouth and Everton lost 1-0 to Man.U.I will happily announce that ARSENAL IS EPL LEADER FOR NOW.
Let's go on with our next mission;UEFA Champions League.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Tottenham vs. Arsenal preview
After two weeks of EPL-less time,it's time now to refresh our mind with EPL again.
Hmm........ Let's start with Wenger.HE signed the 4 years contract if I'm not mistaken;and I think it's good to ensure all Gunners will play in full commitment and don't need to worry about Wenger's leaving speculation.
And since the transfer window has been closed,it means all players in EPL is going to stay in their teams respectively,and all the teams have to make the best of their players now.
ANd I think Arsenal makes best of their players now.
Talking about Spurs of course a lot of people commented about their poor start in this season.Some even speculate Tottenham will kick Martin Jol away but their chairman has faith with him.I'm not going to comment about this anymore further.Let's give this job to Tottenham fans.
Don't you think we always made wrong guessing.I mean when we thought Man.U won't perform well last season,Man U won the season and this season when we thought Man U will do well this season,does not perform well as the last season.SO I don't think we should not make speculation or prediction BASED ON THEIR LAST GAME'S PERFORMANCE.But think again,what we should be based when we do our prediction?I didn't know as well.
Yesterday is yesterday no matter how well you perform yesterday.We are not talking about tomorrows game,not yesterday's game.
But I still think Arsenal is more superior than Spurs,if Arsenal maintain their play of course and Berbatov still failed to convert chances into goals.Arsenal must motivate themselves to be the EPL leader.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Apology
I'm sorry to say that I could not update my blog for 3-4 days because my computer is having problem now and now I have to use my friends computer now.
But you can contact me if you have any inquiry about my blog.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Wenger finally signed the deal.
Wenger agreed a 3 years deal till 2011 with Arsenal.
I'm relieved with the above statement and finally,we can really concentrate on the game.I'm not saying that Arsenal is not concentrating on the game,just since the deal window has been shut,and Wenger signed the deal,I think all speculations are over and it's time now to begin the game really.
What do you think about this?
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Wenger:It's getting tough to unearth talent
Source:Arsenal.com
Hmm............... I think he says that only Arsenal can afford to let the "future superstar" to mess their game.Other teams like Liverpool and Blues especially,they can't afford to spend the time to grow a player who his potential is not yet to be known.They think that they will be better off with buying established players.They have money but not time;they can spend the money to but players but they can't afford to buy some teenagers from some unknown club and let them mess their game.
I actually think that Wenger is actually taking quite a big risk.If his "kids" can't show their potential after some time then he will really be in deep trouble.But of course he can afford to take that risk and the result:He's the best manager of Arsenal now currently.
"It's a harder trick to pull off buying younger players,” said Wenger. “But I am not too much worried about the competition because [the players] will always go where they think they get the chance.I think Wenger has a different thinking with most of the managers in EPL.Is his thinking right?
“Not many clubs have the patience to give them a go. They will make them wait until they think they are good enough.
It depends on how he prove his theory right,if he failed then a lot of people will say that his theory is wrong but if he proved it right,then he will be a legend in football arena.Are Wenger proving it right?It's all depends on one thinking,as the saying one shoe can't apply to all legs applies in this case.
So you think Wenger's theory is success and he will bring Arsenal to more win and wins,or you think he's wrong and he will bring all disaster to Gunners?
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Wenger:Why buy when we can make stars
I would like to comment on his comments;
“We want to be faithful to the policy in the Club,” he said. "We have a team that can develop in the next four or five years.Wow,four or five years.Not every manager can bear to wait a few years to "polish" a player into a superstar.Some manager,especially from the big teams think that buying players is faster than to make a star unless the manager can take failures to make them well.As you know,the purest gold get molded through a hottest fire.
But I like the way he do it.And that's why I'm Arsenal fan now and I make this site.And his way make Arsenal one of the Top Four now and Emirates Stadium is too,is because of Wenger's wiseness.
“But I have not seen a number of what you might call world class players. World class prices maybe but not world class players.”
Fantastic remark!!Real Madrid has proved this statement correct.Although they bought a lot of superstars like Ronaldo,Zidane etc a few years ago,they can't win their local league and sometimes they lose to smaller teams like Sevilla etc.Even Arsenal kids can beat them in Champions League.
Same goes to Chelsea;they too bought a lot of expensive players and put them on bench purposely to prevent other teams to get them.But now they begin to sell the players,after realizing that this will bring disaster to them in long term.Likes like Essien get the price tag he didn't deserve in Chelsea.I still remembered that Chelsea bought him for $30 million but I don't think he bring a lot to the Blues.
“I really don't know why everybody wants us to buy. We have started the season well, qualified for the Champions League and are playing in a convincing way.I think some Arsenal fans have higher expectation from Arsenal.They expect Arsenal to win EPL,FA Cup and more but Arsenal can't do it because they were in transition times.And then they told Arsenal to but more players to improve the game.
“And I think the players we have are stars.”Great,that shows that he have faith in our players,the player he chose a long time ago.
Wenger set to sign new contract by next two days
He's set to sign the contract very soon.Source:Itv.com
"Am I still motivated to go on at Arsenal? Yes absolutely. I am very motivated," Wenger told RMC radio. "With all the young players I signed, I feel a kind of responsibility.
"I am in talks with Arsenal. I can't see any drawback to extend. There will be some news on Thursday or Friday."
I think the responsibility to build a strong team without spending much money is the main reason why he's excited to stay in Arsenal and he wants to be "Special One"(but not Jose Mourinho).
"We lost the star of our club, Thierry Henry, so it has changed something indeed. But you know maybe it has pushed the youngsters to take on more responsibilities.The departure of Theirry Henry even made Wenger more committed to Gunners.Henry states that he wants to leave Arsenal because Wenger could be leaving.That's not true at all.Henry did not need to lie about this.I accepted it if Henry says that Arsenal couldn't give the standard he needed and he wants to leave.It's perfectly OK.
I think Wenger is trying to complete the mission of taking Arsenal as the best of the Top Four,without spending too much money.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Gilberto:You don't have to spend big to be successful
Source:Arsenal.com
Hmm......I think Arsenal's bond between the players is very strong,and I think it's good for the team.
If Arsenal could be successful,it's all because of good coordination between the players and it require a lot of "polishing"'and it require a lot of patience too since Arsenal had to endure critics from a lot of people,including ourselves.And the "strong bond" can't be bought by money;it's priceless.
Premiership analysis 4/9/2007
Before talking further about EPL team's performance,lets take a look at the current Premiership table.
Source:Arsenal.com
| Pos. | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 10 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| 3 | Everton | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 5 | Man City | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 6 | Newcastle | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Blackburn | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 8 | Man Utd | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 9 | Wigan | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 11 | West Ham | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 12 | Middlesbro | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 13 | Portsmouth | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 5 |
| 14 | Tottenham | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 4 |
| 15 | Fulham | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 4 |
| 16 | Birmingham | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 4 |
| 17 | Sunderland | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 4 |
| 18 | Reading | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 4 |
| 19 | Bolton | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 3 |
| 20 | Derby | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 15 | -12 | 1 |
Liverpool is definitely the highest gainer last week,with its merciless 6-0 victory against Derby,and stands at the first place at the Premiership table with 7 goals difference.
Next is out team,Arsenal.Arsenal is placed in second-place in the table.I personally think that Arsenal has improved considerably,at least in EPL games compared to last season when Arsenal only collected about 7 points from 4 games.But of course Arsenal has not played with the other "Big Three" yet,and we can't know how Gunners perform against them.
But I think Arsenal didn't need to really push hard on the "Big Three".Yes,if possible we want to beat them but let's say if we have more important match in other League/Cup ahead,I think we should concentrate more on that.After all,Arsenal didn't get more than 3 points if Gunners can beat them,and sometimes we can't concentrate on too many games at once.
I still remembered when Arsenal lost all three championship,Carling Cup,FA Cup and the worse,UEFA Champions League.I think Arsenal player are too stressed and they can't concentrate on too much thing in one time.That thing made worse by more replay in FA Cup.
I'm shocked that Chelsea lost 2-0 to Aston Villa.After I watched the game,I think Chelsea didn't get the good finishing,with a lot of their shots were off-target;and because of that Blues can't score despite their domination of the game.Aston Villa,is inversed Chelsea;where they played for defense and scored when it's time for them to score.
Chelsea was out of luck too.
Next I would like to comment on Red Devils,which had just merely beaten Sunderland 1-0.
I think the game is similar to Arsenal's game against Man. City;though Devils only beat them 1-0,I think Sunderland didn't attack much;they only defended well and played well as well,but of course not good enough to beat the Big Devils.Anyway,Sunderland did play well as a new comer to EPL.
Man. City's "balloon" failed to be inflated again after being "exploded" by Cesc Fabregas.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Arsenal scored 3 goals,and bring back another 3 points
Arsenal,again scored 3 goals and safely get another important 3 points in EPL.
Arsenal fans did not need to wait long to see Arsenal scored and at 6th minute,Adebayor successfully kicked the ball into Portsmouth's net from the penalty-kick,which resulted from David James's foul against van Persie.
Then,Fabregas finished well again at penalty box to get Arsenal the second goal in the game at 35th minute.Thumbs up for Fabregas.
In second-half,Rosicky shocked us with his sudden score against Pompey at 55th minute.His goal was simply stunning and James couldn't did anything to save the ball.
Portsmouth responded almost immediately after Kanu accidentally back-heeled the ball to Arsenal's net.What a shock I think;I didn't expect Portsmouth to respond that quick.
Portsmouth did organize some dangerous attack to Gunners,but Gunners defended well enough to not to be conceded again.Some of Portsmouth's attack is poor though,with quite a lot of attack went wide and their poor control of the ball.
Talking about the ball control,Arsenal had a really good control of the ball today.Well,Arsenal actually have a good control of the ball since quite of long time ago,but today Arsenal controlled the ball really well and that's why I can say that Arsenal dominated the game fiercely.
If Chelsea drop point against Aston Villa,then Arsenal will be in 2nd place after Liverpool at 1st place.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Another Deadline Day transfer from Chelsea
Source:Arsenal.com
Hmm......Let me think first of this transfer.
Ok,well,I think Arsenal need him because Arsenal needs more defense,not more attack and that's why Wenger refused to get Adriano,and get Diarra instead.
The factor which caused Diarra to come to Arsenal is Chelsea can't give him the "activeness" he needed;he has to warm the bench for most of the time.
But if he comes to Arsenal,he can play as the first team,he can show his "activeness" in this club and therefore,he's more happy at Arsenal than with the Blues.
And Almunia wants to leave because of this reason.
What do you think about this transfer?
Arsenal vs. Portsmouth preview
Again we back to our usual Premiership weekend play against Pompey.
Arsenal had strengthen their form with their 3-0 win against Sparta Prague.Portsmouth,had to endure a tough schedule against Man.U,Chelsea and Arsenal at tomorrow.
I didn't worry about Arsenal anyway except how Portsmouth react in this game and Arsenal's form in this game.
If we drop points in this game,Arsenal ranking in EPL will drop dramatically as the current standing is still new and the points difference between the teams are very close.
I hope Arsenal would score more goals in EPL,since Arsenal's goal difference in EPL is less compared to the other team like Liverpool and Chelsea,and this factor is why Arsenal is at 7th place now in EPL.If Arsenal's goal difference in EPL is increased by just 1-2 goals,Arsenal could stand at 3rd place now.
Gallas and Lehmann is still injured,but I think Arsenal could cope without their captain.The bad news is Almunia,the goalkeeper for this game seems to not committed to Gunners,and wants to leave Gunners.I have explained about this earlier here .