Third game without win, where now for Arsenal?

February 22, 2009

Arsenal came into the game today with high hopes after a four nil win against Cardiff on Monday. Also it was also the debut for our new superstar Arshavin.

It was very frustrating as neither team could break the dead lock. This meant Arsenal have now gone three games without any goal.

Arshavin played on the right wing and had two very good chances to score. He intercepted the ball from Reid in the fifth minute and run at the defenders and stopped and shot with his right foot. The ball went just wide of the right post. His second chance was 10 minutes later .He was dribbling in the box and had a powerful shot that made their goalie to hit it away for a corner.

Robin van Persie also had an early chance to score. He made his way behind Sunderland’s defense and collected a through ball from Denilson, but his chip went wide of goal in the 11th minute.
Arshavin’s cross from the right found striker Nicklas Bendtner and he was able to leap into the air and header it at goal in the 29th minute.

Sunderland also put Arsenal under pressure. Anton Ferdinand had a shot from about 15 meters out, which Almunia comfortably fisted away in the 17th minute. Also Dean Whitehead had a shot from distance which made Almunia.

In the second half the teams were equal with neither side having many chances.

Vela came on and had two very good chances to burry it into the back of the net.
The first one was, the ball came over and went over Van Persie. It dropped nicely to Vela who’s shot went well wide of the goal. The second was basically the same and this one went to the corner flag.

In the dying minutes the ball was squared back to Gallas on the edge of the area who shot the ball wide.

This game was our chance to put pressure on Villa however now we are fighting to stay in the UEFA Cup spot.

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Posted by agreekabroad

Time to sell Eboue

February 20, 2009

Eboue's time is upArsene Wenger did something over the week-end that he has rarely done in his time in charge of Arsenal, he has criticized a player. It is no surprise to any Arsenal fan that the player in question is our bête noire, Emanuel Eboue. The player who has caused more Arsenal fans to pull their hair out, than any other player in our history, and we have a few stinkers.

It is not that the guy has no ability or speed, he does, it is just the stupidity of his actions. He is like a baby that has not grown up. Arsenal fans vented their anger on poor Eboue against Wigan , after the match the players and Wenger came out in his defence.

Since that game, things have got worse for our Ivorian utility player, with the final blow being the criticism leveled at him by the manger.

“He didn’t sense how far you can go,” said Wenger. “When he got the first card it was unfortunate, but the second one, you cannot complain about that.”

“During the game he had problems in dealing with his frustrations. We want to play a part in helping him to deal with that.

“The other players want to help their partners to deal with frustrations, but you are also responsible for the way in which you deal with it.”

The comments from Arsene will place further pressure on Eboue and the Arsenal fans will not afford him a second chance.

Now that we have Arshavin and Walcott, Fabregas and Rosciky all coming back from injury, there will be little room for Eboue in the Arsenal squad.

Eboue’s time at Arsenal is up and about time.

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Posted by agreekabroad

Arshavin set to make debut

February 20, 2009

tottenham-v-arsenal-andrey-arshavin-bench_1863608
Arsene Wenger, has confirmed that Andrei Arshavin will make his debut against Sunderland tomorrow.

Russia international Arshavin completed his transfer to the Gunners from Zenit St Petersburg earlier this month for £15 million and has been working on his fitness in training.

The 27-year-old has not played a competitive match since the end of the Russian Premier League season in late November, but Wenger is ready to involve him at Emirates Stadium this weekend. Arshavin was on the bench against Tottenham but didn’t come on.

“He will be involved,” Wenger told the club’s official website. “But I have not decided what I will do with him yet.”

Wenger is indecisive Where he should play him. For Zenit St. Petersburg Arshavin played as a attacking central midfielder. I think this is where Wenger will play him. At the moment Arsenal’s central midfield is weak and fragile. We have Song and Denilson in the middle and I think they aren’t that strong. Arshavin will bring confidence and also experience into the center of the park.

When Fagregas comes back that will be a very strong central midfield. Fagregas has a defencive way of playing and Arshavin has a attacking way. This could work well because they will compliment each other.

With Van Persie this could be a very good tag team with Arshavin. Arshavin has a very creative and attacking player. Van Persie has a similar mind with him and could mean that them two will have a great partnership together.

“He is still working on preparation and he is not qualified for the Champions League game against Roma on Tuesday so we can give him another week of hard work,” added the Frenchman. “At the end of next week, that will be three weeks with us and one week with Zenit, that should be enough.”

Wenger suffered a selection setback in the build-up to the game after it emerged yesterday that Eduardo had injured a hamstring in Monday’s 4-0 win over Cardiff, the Croatian’s first game for Arsenal since breaking a leg last February.

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Posted by agreekabroad

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