Tribute To A Great Player

Today sees former Arsenal striker and Arsenal legend's current team New York Red Bulls at the Emirates Cup facing our beloved Arsenal. This man is none other than Thierry Henry. As much as I'd want us to secure the Emirates Cup (which I'm not too bothered about). I would more than love for Thierry Henry to score today against us just to remind us of how a great finisher he was. The admiration he'll get will be aplenty. So in awe of this world class striker, I have a video of all his 226 goals for Arsenal from the very first to the very last.

Enjoy!

Emirates Cup.. The Same Old

So it's that time of year again, for when the whole world stops and turns their attention towards the Emirates Stadium in North London for a weekend of exciting, extravagant and sublime free scoring football!


Okay I'm somewhat exaggerating this inaugural tournament. There is no importance in winning this tournament at all, as since its debut three seasons ago in 2007, Arsenal have won two out of the three previous tournaments with Hamburg in 2008 winning this prestigious trophy laid in a mass of history behind it (clearly not).


This years participants are of a different flavour of football or soccer as one team may say. Paris Saint-Germain, also known as PSG from France have experience in this tournament already. Boca Juniors of Argentina will bring flair to the game and no doubt when they score their commentator won't just stop at... GOAL! New York Red Balls from the United States are also a different kind of opposition. For many years United States didn't have any appeal and only in the last few years has the love of soccer... ah hem... football has grown. Their national team shows this. The rise has happened ever since David Beckham's move to LA Galaxy. However New York Red Bulls have their own figure head in none other than Arsenal's greatest player in history and record goal scorer, Thierry Henry.


I'm glad he's back at the Emirates, and as funny as it sounds I want him to score at the Emirates, even if it were to be against us. Like Thierry says, his true home will always be Highbury. But he's still a top class player.


We face Boca Juniors today (Saturday) and then we face Henry's team tomorrow in what will be the 'title' decider. The greatest thing about this tournament is the fact us Arsenal fans can get the opportunity to see new signings (not many have been made) like Gervinho and also we can spot potential talent from youth. But most importantly to see the return of the King, most likely one last time playing on Arsenal territory.


I'm not attending the Emirates Cup as I'm still boycotting Arsenal. I'll have other means of watching the Sunday match as I can't view today's game. But what I do know is it's great to finally see this tournament arrive as you know the beginning of the league season isn't too far off now.

REPORT: FC Cologne or is it FC Köln? - Gervinho!

FC COLOGNE 1-2 ARSENAL

Arsenal

Szczesny, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Wilshere, Ramsey, Gervinho, Walcott, Chamakh

FC Cologne

Rensing, Brecko, Mohamad, Riether, Podolski, Novakovic, Andrezinho, Lanig, Jajalo, Chihi, Geromel

Match Report

Rhein Energie Stadion

Pre-season Friendly

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Kick-off: 14:30

So Arsenal have made it two wins out of three. This win was the most impressive with the first half creating many chances and had a real intent on winning the game with good creative ability. The most stand out player who only played  thirty minutes was Gervinho who grabbed a brace on his first appearance for The Gunners.

Gervinho scored with his first touch of the game early on into his Arsenal career with a brilliant chipped through ball by Wilshere, which saw Gervinho burst through onto and lobbed the keeper with no hesitation first time. Remind of of anyone? I'll come back to that.

Gervinho didn't have to wait too long for his second goal in an Arsenal shirt (albeit uncompetitive). Walcott got free on the right and slotted it into the middle of the six yard area for Gervinho to show a strikers instinct an slot it away.

This was now the Gervinho show. Gervinho nearly set up Vermaelen (remember him?... you know... the one who used to score all them crackers for Arsenal?), which the defender just got to in time.

FC Cologne or is it FC Köln, I'm not too sure. Anyway, they got back into the game by the freakiest of own goals. I actually chuckled at this own goal when it flew into the net (only because it was a friendly). Unfortunately for the victim, Jenkinson, unlike like Gervinho, his Arsenal career won't be remembered for a great start. Jenkinson has a bright future as he looked good and composed running down the right but also in defense and at 19 he shouldn't have a problem. Just ask Lee Dixon who famously chipped David Seaman from no pressure whatsoever.

Lee Dixon lobbing David Seaman against Coventry City in 1991

Compare that own goal by Carl Jenkinson:

Which own goal wins? I'm going for Carl Jenkinson because it could have gone anywhere.

Back to the match and the second half dragged on a bit and didn't offer the same excitement or any goals that we saw in the first. But it was all about fitness, and the constant changing of players didn't help the flow of the game. FC Cologne came close a few times, but nothing came of it.

It was another good run out for the players and good to see Gervinho have a good impact into his Arsenal career. I said I'd come back to him and he impressed me a lot. He was likened to Henry as an auxiliary striker, he can pop in the right position, give assists and score plenty goals and has a quick turn of pace. I'm really looking forward to him playing in the new season.

Match Highlights:

REPORT: Hangzhou Greentown - Gervinho - More Signings to Come

HANGZHOU GREENTOWN 1 - 1 ARSENAL

Team Line-ups

Arsenal:

Mannone, Sagna, Djourou, Squillaci, Traore, Rosicky, Frimpong, Nasri, Arshavin, Vela, van Persie

Hangzhou Greentown:

Jiang Bo, Wu Shaokun, Li Yan, Pazzaolano, Longyuan, Xuan, Jiashu, Vazquez, Liu Bin, Wang Song, Randy

Match Report

Pre-season Friendly

Meihu Stadium, Yiwu

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Kick-off: 12:30

Just a quick summary of Saturday’s last match in the Asia tour for Arsenal. THe opponents were Hangzhou Greentown, a proper club team compared to the Malaysia XI that was chosen to face Gunners. The match was going to be a test as Greenhouse are used to the conditions and are a fitter side at the moment.

The team had a relatively mix of starting eleven players and fringe players. You could tell with the line-up we had we weren't fluent in our passing and were quite sloppy. Also pressuring the opposition when needed wasn't at its best. However this is the bets time to get rid of those rusty performances.

The brightest players on the pitch in the first half for us were mainly Arshavin, Nasri and Vela. But it came as no surprise with Greenhouse taking the lead due to, that's right you've guessed it, another poor show at the back from a set piece. Green house were quite dangerous and hit the post prior to taking the lead. It was Squillaci and Mannone with school boy errors that saw Arsenal take an unexpected lead. Thankfully these two don't start for Arsenal on a regular basis.

Arsenal soon enough got back in the game  and drew level in the first half with Vela finishing it off with, sorry not a chip over the goalkeeper but the simplest of tap ins from a well worked one-two from van Persie and Arshavin. van Persie's shot was saved after Arshavin's lobbed pass, which fortunately landed into Vela's path (fox in the box anyone?).

The second half was a much better performance from Arsenal as it saw a complete change of the eleven that started the first. The fact that the core of the usual starting eleven began the second half, with the likes of Szczesny, Koscienly, Vermaelen, Song, Wilshere. Also a big factor was natural pace speedsters in Miyachi and Walcott to stretch Greentown.

To sum up the second half, we had many chances that we should've finished with ease. But with time and more match practice that hopefully shouldn't be the case.


Match Highlights:

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So the new man in town has now arrived, but you already knew that a few weeks ago didn't you? That's right Gervinho has finally been unveiled in both Arsenal shirts, clearly it's a marketing scheme in order to try and sell more shirts.

Marketing ploy with both home and away shirts

Gervinho himself states that he will play in his best position, which is on the right of a front three, but he can also play on the opposite side as well as down the middle. I personally want to see him down the right hand side. For the past few seasons now with Walcott, we haven't seen that natural ability to get past a player with skill, it's all about speed with Theo. Gervinho has skill as well as pace. He contribues with a lot of assists, which I think Walcott needs a lot of work on still. But then again Walcott should be down the middle anyway as he thrives on instinct.

Anyway back to our new striking sensation (if you can call him that). I relish to see what this player is going to be like for us, he seems an exciting and electric player and although I've heard of him before, I've never really watched him apart form the odd substitute appearances for Ivory Coast, otherwise he's an unknown quantity to me really.

However I'm glad we've signed someone finally, I hope this spending spree continues.

Welcome to Arsenal Gervinho!

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So more signings looks like it's on our way with rumours going about again that we're still in for Cahill from Bolton, Samba from Blackburn and Mata from Valencia. Now these rumours persistently never stop, just as the never ending saga of Fabregas and Barcelona, when will they shut up and just pay the asking price or just go away and leave our club alone?

I wouldn't be surprised if we signed any of the aforementioned three. However it seems whenever it's English sources the transfer never comes off. Most of the reliable sources come form France (is that because we're run by a French manage, who knows?)

But the outs seem like they've started as well. Denilson will be heading back to Sao Paulo, that's pretty much confirmed as it was on Arsenal's official website. Bendtner is in talks with a few clubs. Eboue looks like he's on his way to Galatasaray and it's gone all quiet on behalf of our No.1 goalkeeper (his shirt number, not literally) Almunia. So I'm sure something's happening there.

PREVIEW: Hangzhou Greentown v Arsenal

Match Preview

Hangzhou Greentown v Arsenal

Pre-season Friendly,

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Kick-off: 12:30

After Arsenal’s convincing win against Malaysia XI on Wednesday, today is a match they’ll be expected to win in China by a far greater margin. Once again I don’t know much about the opposition, not because I’m ignorant, just because I’ve never heard anything of them.

It’s god too see that we’re widely accepted as the Asia tour is provided with an enormous amount of hospitality, for quite frankly players who are well over paid for a job that doesn’t matter too much. You could almost say they’re treated like Gods.

Back to the match and it’ll see the usual rotation in the pre-season. Those who’ll start the match will be those who need their fitness to be increased. So we can see any line-up today.

I would personally like to see another look and Miyachi and Jenkinson for a long period today, as I didn’t manage to catch the game on Wednesday. The partnership of Koscielny and Vermaelen needs another look at also, this is because they haven’t played together for a long enough periods.

Once again the team should try as hard as possible to keep running and chasing down the opponents to use that mentality for the season ahead and also to increase their fitness ready for a busy August.

Here is what the starting team could look like:

Arsenal

Szczesny

Sagna           Djourou       Squillaci       Traore

Frimpong     Ramsey

Walcott                  Nasri                      Miyachi

Van Persie

Prediction

Hangzhou Greentown 1-6 Arsenal

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REPORT: Malaysia XI 0-4 Arsenal

MALAYSIA XI 0 - 4 ARSENAL

Team Line-ups

Arsenal:

Szczesny, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Vermaelen (c), Gibbs, Song, Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott, Miyachi, Chamakh

Malaysia XI:

Nourdin, Jasuli, Purta, Zafuan, Rahim, Shas, Subramaniam, Talaha, Rohidan, Saarani, Zainal

Match Report

Pre-season Friendly

Bukit Jalil Stadium

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Kick-off: 13:45

I didn’t manage to catch the match; only through Twitter could I manage to get updates as I am involved in the working world. From what I heard or saw Arsenal looked in good shape in Malaysia showing that last season is almost out of their minds with a game they were always in control of. News boys Jenkinson and Miyachi both started, the rest had a familiar look to the team.

Arsenal came out of the traps quicker than their opponenets and got an early goal as Ramsey (5) dispatched a penalty after Wilshere’s movement was too quick for the Malaysian defence and was brought down in the area.

The pressure continued, but it took till eight minutes before half time for Walcott (37) doubled Arsenal’s tally. It was the best goal of the game as Ramsey assisted from the middle of the pitch, in what you would call Cesc like. The vision and execution was sublime. (If Fabregas were to leave, I think Aaron can step up). The ball split the Malaysian defence and Walcott lobbed the keeper into an empty net. The finish did somewhat look like Theo shinned or hit it with his calf, still a neat finish.

Arsenal went into half-time with a lead at 2-0. I had predicted a score line of 4-1 to Arsenal; the match did finish 4-0 so I was close enough. Maybe if Almunia was on tour we would’ve conceded that one goal. Vela (58) got Arsenal’s third goal to put the game beyond doubt. It was Déjà vu all over again, with Carlos deciding to chip the keeper who was still standing. It was a great finish but when will Vela learn that sometimes scoring the simple goal is much more effective. One day we’ll play a big side or a match the has a lot riding on it and he’ll turn up in a position to give us the win and he’d decide to chip and miss ,when the direct shot would’ve been far more the better option. This is a make or break year for Vela I feel, with Bendtner looking on his way out, he needs to impress, but down the middle.


Another positive was to see Nasri coming on to play for the side off the bench, I hope this tour is a good bonding session to keep players together, especially for Samir. A low point was Denilson coming off after twenty minutes on the pitch after coming on as a substitute himself. The Brazilian stormed down the tunnel, clearly unhappy. The substitute was covered up by saying he was injured. But news is that he's actually close to a loan deal to Sao Paulo.

Finally our fourth goal came late on with Arshavin coming on to dart past his man to the by-line to cross with a deflection for Rosicky (90) (seems like he never scores) to nod home from close range.

All in all a good first win with a good run out in hot weather, where they would’ve sweated loads and improved their fitness, which is all that matters at this stage. Next up in Arsenal’s Asia tour is Chinese outfit Hangzhou Greentown.

Match Highlights:

PREVIEW: Malaysia XI v Arsenal

First things first, before I get on to any kind of match pre-match build up. Arsenal have finally confirmed the capture of Gervinho, subject to a regulatory process. So we get another striker/winger who has plenty of pace and tricky. If anything this is a boost to the squad as it brings a new exciting face to the changing room. It should also push Theo Walcott to perform at an even greater level. I’m tempted to leave it at that for Gervinho as he hasn’t been fully unveiled yet on Arsenal.com. When the player does sign, I’ll be sure to write about him.

Match Preview

Malaysia XI v Arsenal
Pre-season Friendly

Bukit Jalil Stadium

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Kick-off: 13:45

So Arsenal have headed out to Malaysia to kick off their pre-season matches. They have been training out in Malaysia in temperatures of 30’C, along with humidity of 80%. That is sure to help make the players even fitter than their previous outings in pre-season in Austria.

The team that has flown out to Malaysia is quite a strong squad, although on a competitive scale this match isn’t important at all. It’s all about fitness first as becoming match fit is vital in order for the squad to maintain an extended good run of form into a long hard season in the Barclays Premier League.

There are a few big names in the squad with the following to choose from:

Goalkeepers:

Wojciech Szczesny, Vito Mannone

Defenders:

Sebastien Squillaci, Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs, Carl Jenkinson , Laurent Koscielny , Armand Traore, Thomas Vermaelen, Bacary Sagna

Midfielders:

Samir Nasri, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Denilson, Aaron Ramsey, Emmanuel Frimpong

Forwards:

Robin van Persie, Andrey Arshavin, Theo Walcott, Marouane Chamakh, Ryo Miyaichi, Carlos Vela

What of the opponent, you may be asking? Well it’s a national side we’re playing and it’s going to be a select eleven or squad for Malaysia. They haven’t got many well-known football stars, however the East Asian national teams tend to have a high work ethic and I’m sure that our players will be given the run around.

As it’s our first game the players will be rotated quite a bit and we may see a strong team first half and more squad players in the second. It could also be as mixture of first teamers with squad players. Personally Arsene should try and start with his strongest team possible and even try out Ryo Miyachi, who is a very promising youngster that we all wish can stay with Arsenal for the upcoming season.

So to keep things short, here is the team I would like to see start the match tomorrow:

Arsenal

Szczesny

Sagna           Djourou         Vermaelen     Gibbs

Song             Wilshere

Walcott         Nasri            Miyachi

van Persie

Prediction

Malaysia XI 1-4 Arsenal




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Stewart Downing... Really?

Firstly I don't see what Wenger sees in Downing and how he can improve us. However could this prove to be what Arsenal do need. An England International who has been around form a young age from his Middlesbrough days.


Downing had very good stats last season for Aston VIlla (and we know how much Wenger loves his stats!). He could provide us with an out and out left winger who does track back and has the ability to beat his man with pace. Even if Downing was not to beat his man he has a brilliant delivery and can whip in crosses. If anything Wenger is looking for a more direct approach rather than the usual side to side passing, which has caused moans and groans at the Emirates as we can't break defenses down (unless in Europe).

More celebrations like this with Arsenal?

At a fee of around £18 million reported to have been bid It's somewhat unusual that Wenger could go in for the likes of Juan Mata for a similar price. However Downing is a long seasoned Englishman with plenty of experience under his belt.

I can only believe it to be paper talk as usual, but it would be interesting to see the system changed and freshened up a bit at Arsenal.

Arsenal Return to Training

The beginning of the season starts now, a long way off the first Premier League match. This is because the majority of first teamers returned today at Arsenal training ground at London Colney this morning.

Pictures taken from this morning, which can be seen here, involved new faces. A laughing Ryo Miyachi, courtesy of none other than comedian and Eddy Murphy 'wanna be' Emmanuel Eboué and 19 year-old Carl Jenkinson, signed form Charlton Athletic.

There was no sign of Nasri, Fabregas and even van Persie, however his may be down to International duty. It would have a more pleasing outlook if there were actually new signings in that first training session.

Last of the Invincibles Departs

So the first exodus of players at the Emirates has started. The French and Toulouse born and left back, Gaël Clichy, has parted ways with Arsenal after 8 years at the club. A consistent performer who always gave 100%. His new destination is that of About Diaby's long lost cousins club, Manchester City.


A player who was bought in from Cannes, with a reputation as an attacking left back, but who mainly played in front of Ashley Cole whenever he came on off the bench in his early days. Clichy managed to make enough appearances in the 2003-2004 unbeaten season to claim a winners medal in the Premier League and to this day was the last 'Invincible' left remaining at the club.

Still have a smile on his face come end of season?

As far as I'm concerned the loss of Clichy isn't a big blow as Cole was replaced, who was a much better all round left back than Clichy, so Clichy he can be replaced as well. However this has left a void for any player to make it his own place in the starting line up. I don't think any 'left back' currently at the club (Gibbs, Traoré) can quite cut it yet for a whole season. The thought of Vermaelen being moved to a make shift left back is one I dread to think about. Why take him out of his best position just to fill a hole is beyond me.


Arsenal have been linked with Aly Cissokho from Lyon, who moved from Porto in 2009 to the French outfit. However a 23 year-old isn't really saying he's any better than Clichy. At least replace class with class. But I can't judge the guy as I haven't even seen anything of him. The thing is I could easily name world class right backs, but i can't think of many left backs who we could attract. If someone along the lines of Sagna's defensive ability with the crossing of Daniel Alves, now that would be a dream.


I'd like to say thank you to Clichy for serving the club this long, 8 years in this day and age is quite loyal and a long time. However I do not wish you the best of luck. Who in their right mind would want another club to do better than their own?


The search for the next best left back continues... (maybe get Winterburn out of retirement?).