Juventus throw a Paddy!

Can't. Post.

Drinking.

More Tomorrow.

But....

Champions League? You're Having a Laugh!

Juventus Preview

This is it then, the return of Pat Vieira. Its going to be emotional for all involved and could bring out the best in him, but also our own players. I'm harbouring thoughts of Gilberto wanting to prove a point that he is still a player without our old captain, but I may be thinking to highly there!
One thing that has been glossed over in the build up so far is about Thierry Henry. Yes, everyone has said Juve are troubled by pace at the back and the focus is on PV4's return, but Henry is also playing one of his old clubs. A club that he left with a lot to prove. Whilst Vieira won all but, ironically, this one trophy available with us (Carling Cup doesn't count Spurs fans!), Henry was a failure at Juventus.

Who has more of a point to prove? I have a feeling Thierry may be up for this one!

Juve will be without Nedved and Del Piero tomorrow and we are without our usual suspects as well. For Nedved, read Ljungberg due to their influence and sense of the big stage and whilst Del Piero has been on the wane for some years, he has been back on form this season. It can only help to have these two class players out of the side, but Juve are still a tremendous threat, Camoranesi especially seems to be put in the shadow by the big name players in front of his wide right berth, but is an awesome player.

Whilst I feel that the quarter final will not be won or lost at Highbury - think of how many of the previous rounds ties could have been back to square one with a goal from the relevant side - it is important to get a goal. I think our defence will come under more pressure from a Juve side that is far more efficient than either Madrid, or indeed ourselves. Juve have a potent mix of individual brilliance and a hive like mind set that benefits them as a team. But remember, they are an Italian side playing away from home! They are far more pragmatic than we would be and also Madrid in a similar fixture. Whilst I'm not saying they will play for a draw, if its 0-0 I think they would be happy but over 90 minutes I can see them scoring. However, with a fired up TH14 and hopefully Reyes to frieghten with his pace in our 4-5-1 CL standard formation, I can see us getting goals too.

Away goals however, are an overrated phenomenon. They seem to put far more fear into teams and supporters than is necessary. If Arsenal win 3-1 tomorrow but lose 1-0 in Turin we go through. If we win 2-1 tomorrow but draw 0-0 over there, we also go through. Away goals only become the be all and end all on aggregate and over 2 legs in this tie I think one side will outscore or shut out the other one without having to rely on this hyped up rule. I'm not saying they are irrrelevant, but imagine the perception on wednesday morning if its 1-1 tomorrow night. Fine, its 1-1, but the media will only talk of an away goal. If we then go to Italy and win 1-0, we go through, making the away goal obselete. Lets talk about away goals if they look like an issue in Turins' second 45 minutes, not before we've even kicked off!

So, a far more tense night than the final throes of the Galacticos era served up for us, but without Nedved and Del Piero, thus helping to balance the injury accounts of both sides somewhat, I am going for a 1-1 or 2-1 victory for the Arsenal.

Stay Up Pompey, Pompey Stay Up?

Portsmouth this weekend in the saturday evening kick off. This could be much trickier than we think.
Both clubs seemed to have picked up form recently and although its TH14's favourite away ground, our away form isn't still that great. The used car salesman that is Harry Redknapp seems to have got Pompey pointing in the right direction recently, something he must also do when thinking of his daughter-in-law.

Ljungberg and Ralph are still out, along with the other long term absentees but as mentioned in the last post, our right hand side has been revitalised by the players that have come in to replace them. If Reyes is match fit, then I would certainly play him in front of Pires on the left, his hunger means he tracks back more to help out the Flam than Pires ever would. If Jose hasn't recovered, then we're going to need to outscore portsmouth as there will be less defensive cover offered by bob but, undeniably, there is more of an understanding with Henry. Thinking about it, if Pires starts, I fancy him to pinch a goal.
After beating Pompey 4-0 at Highbury earlier in the season, but taking into account Portsmouths much improved form, I can see us going to Fratton Park and getting a win by one or two goals. Yes, they're improved form is important, but we haven't been slacking lately either! I think Portsmouth will stay up this season at the expense of WBA and I have an awful feeling about the ex-spurs nonce that is Pedro Mendes (chop him down Kolo!), but for now, their relegation revival will be put on hold....

2-0 to the Arsenal

Have a good weekend

Housemates and Hlebs...

Ah, still no internet access apart from staying in university longer than is absolutely necessary and as everyone knows, university is a horrible place rated only by those that have never been. The fun part comes from being a student but avoiding the institution itself and getting
blind drunk elsewhere. Lack of updates is still due to my useless housemate who has the cash in her hand to get us reactivated by ntl, but who was asleep til 3:30pm this afternoon. Being a student I'm as lazy as the next jobless gimp but 3:30pm takes the piss.

Anyway, a good weekend in many ways. There is a lot of talk on the net about the balance that Eboue and Hleb bring to our right side and with Fabregas on fire, it is true that these players have potential to rival the ash cole, bob and henry axis in their prime. A winger is still needed in the summer however. Say Ash and TH14 stay, then with Reyes and Hleb and one other, we will have quality cover on the flanks. Again, the football is summarised on other sites but one important thing has come from this weekend...

We have certainly improved in the last 4-6 weeks and there is a certain solidarity to the team, ironically not seen when we had our 125th choice back four, let alone the current 1006th choice model. We seem to be coming to the boil nicely in time for next months biggun at Highbury against spurs. Yes its still a month away, but another four weeks of this marked improvement would do nicely come crunch day on the 22nd of April. Put that in the diary people, its going to be huge. In fact, I'm so confident that we'll beat them in our last derby at THOF that in some ways it would be better that we are 2 points behind them til then, thus making their impending spiral into the UEFA Cup even sweeter. Obviously I'd love to be so far ahead that even, god forbid, they beat us at home, it wont make a difference. But to see someones hopes crushed like the 2005 FA Cup Final is such a beautiful beautiful thing!

See you Soon....

Madrid Preview

Due to some 'technical' difficulties, I can only update when I'm in university at the moment: the technical difficulty being my useless housemate not paying the cable bill. If someone knows how this is possible when its on direct debit and I'm paying £630 a quarter into that account, then answers on a postcard...

Madrid: Its the game many of us have wanted since Wenger started to have an effect on the way we played football. I'm not going to go on about all the players and whether this has come 2 years too late, more on the situation as it stands.

Its half time and we're one nil-up. Thats it. Obviously I'd have bitten off your arm if you offered a 1-0 win in Spain, but we're only half way there. A 2 goal blitz by Madrid like they did in their Cup means we have to score 2 on the night as well. Yeah, as long as we don't lose, we go through, but its tough. On talksport, they hardly mentioned the Arsenal game as they took it as a given, I think cant think of anything more foolish. I feel a lot may come down to formation, and the attitude it brings with it.

Playing 4-4-2 would give one heck of a spectacle (like yesterdays blackburn/totts game but with better players) but would increase the chances of losing. I'd take a Chav-esque 1-0 grinder any day in this game. To play the same as in Spain is safer but may mean the players, in their heads, are playing for a draw. Its a hell of a careful balance, but I'd play the same way as in Madrid, or at least start that way. It was essentially one striker but with such pace, it became 3 up front when need be.

Highbury has always been a strange pitch for away teams, there is simply no space for them to play if used to wide pitches such as Madrids'. Being used to this narrow style I believe we will pressurise them into errors and can break from there.
I have a feeling Wenger may start with Dennis but sentimentality aside, I think that's a waste. We need pace to hit on the counter attack and if I made one change it would be freddie out on the right and Diaby in the middle to hassle in the narrow confines, allowing Cesc to create and Gilberto to marshall the back four.

I'm going with another Arsenal victory on the night, but it will be much closer than last time, make no mistake!
And to top it off, after another MOTM performance by Cesc, he will salute the new President of Madrid with just the two fingers!

Fulham 0 Arsenal 4

Unexplainable!

Like a few other arsenal sites out there, I didn't hold out much hope for this afternoon. From what I can figure, our away record is relegation form, whilst Fulhams' home form is the stuff of Champions League slots. For that reason I thought I'd wait to see what happened before I wrote today.
So, t'was a 4-0 victory very much against the form book. The radio said we were like the real Arsenal and this cant come soon enough considering who we are entertaining midweek!
Whilst I'll leave the descriptions of the goals to sites more that way orientated, there were a couple of observations I'd like to note:
In Wengers post match conference there was thankfully no talk of 'turning corners.' I say thankfully because each time he says it he sounds more like Gerrard Houllier on his death bed at Anfield and I was, quite frankly, getting dizzy by it all. Also, it was all BS becuase we'd always lose the next game. He was also positive about the Madrid game without getting too ahead of himself, which with only a 1-0 lead, is the way to approach it. A 1-0 away goal is a good thing to have, but by no means is it over.
Also, Diaby was powerful today. Its been mentioned everywhere that he is more adventurous than PV4 ever was, and whilst thats true, it can never hurt to have him in games to add some size to the team.
The midfield today seemed a solid selection, and whilst no fan of Mr. Silva, a job was done today just as it was in Madrid. If he merely sticks himself in front of the back four and thats all we expect him to do, then he is a solid squad member. If we, or he, expect him to become a midfield magician, then he will fail us everytime. But fair play today.
I like Adebayor from what I have seen. Yes, he missed a sitter today, but he's also been unlucky with a few offsides since his move. Given how long it takes some strikers to bed in and score goals, he's done well in a team that has been struggling when its not used to it. Ljungberg has also been getting better recently, perhaps he is finally getting rid of these niggles that allow him to be fit for games, but not 'play' in them.

So an excellent warm up for midweek Madrid both in terms of result and performance, hopefully we'll hear no bad injury news between now and then, but I've been wondering whether we should stick with the same system that we played in Spain or go with 4-4-2 as its on our patch. This will all be addressed on Tuesday in the preview.

We haven't had many saturday nights recently when we can celebrate an away win, so make the most of the weekend and enjoy.

Al