Injuries are a pain, apparently

Platini and Blatter would tell you that International games are fun, Wenger would tell you that International games are a pain in every club manager’s arse. Seeing as Platini and Blatter lack much experience in club management, I will go with Wenger’s statement more so than theirs. But truth be told, I think that’s because I think Platini is an intolerable cunt. You shouldn’t let your mind wander Michael, it’s much too small to be out on its own.

Now that the internationals have passed, we can assess the damage, and make no bones about it, it’s not looking good. The biggest blow will be Hleb, who developed a hamstring injury with Belarus and is expected to be out for three entire weeks, which means he’ll miss Sevilla, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Bucharest. Let’s just hope he recovers in time for when we face Chelsea, we’ll need him for that.

In terms of injuries altogether, Hleb joins the absentee’s list this weekend along with Mathieu Flamini (thigh), Cesc Fabregas (suspended), Abou Diaby (back) and Gilberto (fatigue). Now, what I find odd about all these injuries, is that it has in one week, completely annihilated the one area we thought we had fully covered. Things are looking so short in midfield right now, that Frankie Detorri is overlooking it.

It also seems that Robin van Persie, despite being back in training, is not yet ready for first team football. No doubt we’ll see him return for the Sevilla match next week. On a more positive note though, the internationals are finished, we don’t have any more qualifiers to play and no more unexpected international injuries whereby cunts like Domenech secretly love taking our expensive assets, breaking them and returning them back with a ‘I don’t know what happened, he came broken!’ theory. If I had the chance of meeting him, I’d half a mind to spit in his ice cream, pelt him with dogmuck and tickle him with stinging nettles. That’ll teach him. It taught Charlie Turner in Primary School when he pulled Wolverine’s head off and returned it back to me with the same idiotic excuse. He was a cunt as well come to think of it.

Anyway, moving on from childhood memories, Clichy reveals the story behind the huddle, apparently it was all instigated by Gallas. Now, I’ll confess, I think Gallas becoming a captain above the likes of Gilberto and Toure was sickening, the problem, I felt, was that he was a recent ex-Chelsea player and had made a few wrong comments about the fact Arsenal’s team is so young and inexperienced and that he’ll never succeed with them etc etc

However, after his sincere apologies, encouraging the team to get together after training and go for meals, taking the youngsters to meet 50 cent and various things like this huddle ritual, to which I still think was started before him, but he has since further encouraged, he is slowly proving to every Arsenal fan that he is worthy of this Captain’s armband. Especially when you can see the complete unity and the attitude of the players fighting for one another on the pitch, it really does demonstrate the positive impact his captaincy has had on the club, and as long as we keep winning, may it continue. Hopefully he’ll be the same encouraging, pick-me up kind of leader when the results eventually go against us.

Arsene truly does know, the wily old sod.

Right, and that’s your lot. I would really appreciate comments on my posts guys, just to give me constructive criticism or the like as I am still fairly new to this whole blog concept, I do want to improve this blog, so if there is something, let me know. As for the theme, tough titties, it stays blue. Its the only decent free theme WordPress has, despite the shit looking flowers on the sidebar.

Karma God, You’re an utter shitbag

I understand that saying this, I will no doubt be run over by a steam train whilst spontaneously combusting in the early hours of a rainy day next week whilst walking my dog. Most randomly because I am never up to see the early hours and I don’t have a dog, but by implying that the Karma God is an utter shitbag will no doubt seal my fate in the most unforgiving way.

Almost like the shitbag in question has unforgivably, yet again, smited our players during a routine training session for the French squad. Flamini and Diaby will both, more than likely, be missing from our squad against Wigan, however, it doesn’t help when the French national boss has reported on the injury with ‘he suffered a little something’, I hope a little something falls on top of your head from a great height, you twat.

We now lack possibly both Flamini and Diaby going into a Wigan game that Cesc removed himself with an unnecessary, yet funny, yellow card against Reading. However, there is some good news, Gilberto now gets his chance for the first time this season and Diarra will possibly get the call up to partner Gilberto in midfield. The only problem is, we will have two defensive midfielders in the centre of our team, hopefully one of them knows roughly how to attack.

The rumour mill has started up again with us being linked to Luka Modric, and not for the first time this season either. With some sources based in Croatia, its understood that we actually asked about Modric whilst purchasing Eduardo. Some even say that we had a first option clause, giving us the first refusal of the player, whilst others said that we had signed him and he would be joining us in January.

Problem is, Chelsea have apparently offered Dinamo Zagreb 30m Euros for the player which Zagreb ‘turned down’, now call me cynical, but I don’t believe Zagreb would have turned down 30m Euros. That being said, it may have something to do with us and the cards we are holding close to our chest regarding the player.

More than likely though, its just Dinamo Zagreb trying to start a public auction looking for the most money, if that’s the case, you can certainly count us out of that. Unless its one of those reverse auctions whereby everyone puts in a lowest bid and the lowest unique bid wins. Arsene would win with a 1YEN bid and complain that he overspent.

Right, I have been mucking about a bit on this whole wordpress thingymabob (you see Domenech, I can be just as specific as you!) and have found out how I can include some player profiles and other groovy stuff. I’m still a complete novice, so don’t laugh or I’ll IP ban you (you’ll have to wait 6 months until I find out how to IP ban though), I’ll also try and get this match preview up in the next couple of days as well.

If you’ll now excuse me, I’m gonna go watch the Final Destination trilogy to get the better of Karma God.

International Week = Utter boredom

Here we are, yet again, in the middle of another international week. This is that time whereby we, as a club, send our players on tens of thousands per week, worth multi-millions all around the world to take part in their National Team games and pray that they don’t get injured. With our club though, we must have done something bad to piss off the God of Karma (if there is such a god) as we more often than not, pick up long term injuries from these games. Take Robin van Persie as an example, who was stretchered off in his last Holland appearance and subsequently missed the Liverpool and Manchester United games that we really could have used him in.

So, what has happened so far in the 1st international games? Well, 15 of our players got called up and as far as I can make out, all of them survived with no injuries. Arsenal.com has more info here, it seems the only headline is that Rosicky scored, now if he could only score for us and stay injury free for more than 5 minutes.

Hoyte wants to stay and fight for his place, but I think whilst he is competent, he doesn’t offer the team much else besides an English passport, with Sagna already making that position his own and Wenger probably favouring Eboue as back-up in that right back role, I do see little chance of Hoyte returning to the first team and getting the same amount of appearances he got last season. Not a bad player, but then, not a great one either, he will no doubt be sold and picked up by Portsmouth who have 30,000 ex-Arsenal defenders.

“The only thing that eclipses this Arsenal team is the invincibles” and any trophy winning side really. Now, I’m not a pessimistic fan, but I am a realist. The current team has undeniable dropped their trunks and waved their arses to every football ‘expert’ and I use that term ‘expert’ lightly, all who were so quick to make up their dim-witted minds. However, we need to win trophies before we get carried away. As Arsenal fans, we are blessed with sublime football and some awesome players, but we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground and remember that it can all still go horribly wrong for us. I hope to god it won’t, but then they say football is a funny old game and not in the context of when you see C. Ronaldo fall flat on his arse trying to do one trick too many, which more often than not, is two tricks, but because its unpredictable.

This Arsenal side has massive potential, but it needs to win trophies to be remarked as a great side. If we can equal the invincible record then by all means, the better. But lets not get ahead of ourselves, there’s still more than 25 games left.

Later in the week, I will post an in-depth preview to the Wigan game and hopefully some opinions on the game by Wigan fans, which should be insightful, especially after the Jewell departure.

Rightio, that’s your lot for now, I’ll try and post when I can. Feel free to leave comments and what not, if I can be bothered, I may even read a couple!

The beginning of it all

Wahey! You found us.

“Where on heck have I ended up?”, I hear you ask, well, you’ve ended up on an Arsenal blog, but not any old Arsenal blog, oh no. You have ended up on my Arsenal blog. Congratulations, have a cookie.

Unfortunately, as its a fairly new blog, its looking about as empty as Tottenham’s trophy cabinet, but not to worry, I have hope of much success. Not about Spurs, I’ll leave that hope and faith to their fans.

So, first blog and all, where to begin? Well, I could crack a few Spurs jokes and laugh at their misery. Oh, I have already done that.

Well, I suppose I may as well carry on with telling you about this fantastic blog, but I have forgotten the link so we’ll focus on mine.

For the best part of a year now, I have read many blogs on a daily basis and I often thought “How hard can it really be to start a blog?”, well, I have found out that’s actually ridiculously easy, it seems you can create an account on WordPress in a matter of minutes.

The hard part however, so I am told, is writing something interesting on a constant basis. Now, I have been known to have quite an opinion on things, such comments of “You’d make a great Politician” are often said to me, usually on a Friday night after I am 10 Carling pints heavy, talking to some bloke with a wooden leg who only seems to use the Pub as a stopping point to rest whilst walking his dogs. As he usually jokes, he is always halfway to getting legless before me.

I am very much a free thinker, I don’t care much for what the papers say and I don’t much care for what scar-faced fuck-wits say on a popular BBC One programme about the best performing team in the Premiership (It’s been confirmed, Pele said so).

I am 24 years old, I live roughly 15 miles from Ashburton Grove or 4 hours drive on match day. I have been an avid supporter of Arsenal most my life (there was a brief spell where my dad tried to convince me to be a Chelsea fan, he has since disowned me – it’s for the best!) and with a few certificates under my belt on understanding human behaviour, body language and even anthropology, I can usually make sense of what Arsene does and how he thinks. So you’ll usually find, I can clear up some of the decisions he has made with next to no fuss. It’s been a long time since I was wrong, let’s put it that way.

Simply put, I speak my mind, some of you may enjoy it, some may not. If you are some of those who do, by all means, stick around and I hope you enjoy my posts as much as I enjoy writing them.

Either way, I’m still as new to this whole WordPress thing, so don’t worry if you come back and the blog has become a breeding ground for Dogging reunions fronted by Stan Collymore, I can assure you it would be a slight coding error somewhere and that won’t be me in the Blue Renault flashing my lights in the woods on Sunday evening.

So, please bookmark this page and follow me on my little merry quest to manipulate the world with my Arsenal opinions, you’d feel a whole lot better, plus you get a badge.*

Until then, I am gonna go grab 40 winks and dream of a certain Miss Hazell doing wonderful things with a cucumber. In my dreams, she makes an awesome salad for when when I return from work.

Plus, she’s a filthy bitch.

* You have to make the badge and pay for all the materials yourself.