Sunderland 1-Arsenal 0
By: Martin |
3 Comments
I opened up my preview for this match with the following paragraph:
Back in action at the Stadium of Light tomorrow, for what I expect to be a very tricky match. Seriously–this match scares the hell out of me. For one thing, it’s a road match against a top half side with a very good home record–those matches are always tough, no matter what. But throw in the fact that nearly half our first team is injured, and that everyone is already talking about next weekend’s matchup with Chelsea, and this has all the makings of an Arsenal stumble. I dearly hope I’m wrong.
I don’t know if I’ve ever been so disgusted to be right. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunderland-Arsenal Thread
By: Martin | 4 Comments
Lineups are in:
Sunderland: Starters: Fulop, Bardsley, Mensah, da Silva, McCartney, Henderson, Reid, Cana, Richardson, Henderson, Bent. Subs: Nosworthy, Healy, Zenden, Murphy, Ferdinand, Campbell, Carson.
Arsenal: Starters: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Traore, Fabregas, Song, Ramsey, Rosicky, Eduardo, Nasri. Subs: Mannone, Silvestre, Arshavin, Eboue, Walcott, Denilson, Vela.
Traore starts at left-back. It’ll be interesting to watch him this game–I think I remember coming into the season Wenger saying something to the effect that he didn’t consider Traore a left-back anymore, that his defensive deficiencies made him a left winger exclusively. I’m also glad to see Ramsey in there–I thought he was still hurt from internationals, but he impressed in his previous start and earned the chance to build on that. Another good performance or two and you’d have to say he’s passed Diaby on the depth chart. Rosicky and Nasri, who are more traditional wingers than strikers, play on the forward wings, so Eduardo is our only true striker, as Arshavin and Vela both start on the bench. On the plus side, though, injuries and suspensions have forced Sunderland to field a pretty improvised lineup, too.
It’ll be a tough fixture, but we need three points here if we’re really title contenders–let’s get out there and do it. Come on Arsenal.
Sunderland-Arsenal Preview
By: Martin | 8 Comments
Sunderland
Position: 8th, 5-2-5 (17 points, +1 goal differential)
Recent Form: DWLDL
Home Form: 4-1-1
Last Meeting: Arsenal 0-Sunderland 0 (2/21/09)
Back in action at the Stadium of Light tomorrow, for what I expect to be a very tricky match. Read the rest of this entry »
(Now) I Know What You Did (Since) Last Summer, Part III
By: Martin | 3 Comments
Finishing up our “what did we miss out on?” series today: Read the rest of this entry »
Emmanuel Eboue: World Class Striker
By: Martin | 3 Comments
If you haven’t seen it already, Eboue scored a goal for Ivory Coast in an international friendly against Germany yesterday.
The goal was brilliant–showing he may very well be the perfect striker: the strength of Drogba, the creativity of Henry, and the finishing of Owen. He’s the complete package, folks. But don’t take my word for it–watch it for yourself, it’s at the 1:25 mark.
Breathtaking, isn’t it? As vespo pointed out in the comments, leave it to Eboue to score a goal where he (a) didn’t even shoot; and (b) hurt himself. Well, he said he wanted to be the next Eddie Murphy–has anything Eddie Murphy done in the past decade made you laugh as hard as that?
Main d’un dieu?
By: Martin | 13 Comments
It’s not strictly Arsenal-related, I know, but by now I’m sure you’ve all seen the controversial goal which put France into the 2010 World Cup. Read the rest of this entry »
News Round Up
By: Martin | 6 Comments
Okay, I know, 3 posts in one day is a bit excessive. But one was part of a planned thing, the other was new injury news, and there are several things here that I thought you find interesting. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Arsenal News(Now) I Know What You Did (Since) Last Summer, Part II
By: Martin | 3 Comments
Part II of our “What did we miss out on?” series continues today: Read the rest of this entry »
Thirteen
By: Martin | 6 Comments
Well, it never ends. Apparently Aaron Ramsey has also picked up a knock on international duty, meaning we now have fully thirteen players injured.
If you’re curious, we have 29 players listed in our first-team. Which means we are only a few injuries away from having literally more than half our team injured. Maybe there’s something to this November curse after all.
(UPDATE) Poll: Where Would Arsenal’s Injury List Finish?
By: Martin | 12 Comments
As you know, we complain about injuries, even though a lot of other clubs (Liverpool, Chelsea) have plenty of injury problems of their own. But we now have fully eleven (UPDATE: 12. See below.) players injured, and crying doesn’t help, so why not have a little fun with it?
Our 11 players could be configured into a lineup:
Fabianski
Traore-Djourou-Clichy
Denilson
Walcott-Wilshere-Diaby-Vela
Bendtner-van Persie
An unconventional formation, sure. But Denilson could play a pretty conservative holding mid type of role, protecting the backline and trying to win the ball. Then we’d still have 4 very capable attacking midfielders to hold the ball, move it upfield, and make runs towards the goal. And then one world-class striker and one…well, the jury’s still out on Bendtner at this point, but he did score 14 goals last season as a 21-year old.
That would seem to be a solid team–vulnerable at the back, certainly, but they would be very dangerous going forward. So my question to you is this: If, miraculously, this 11-man team could stay healthy, where would they finish in the table?
(UPDATE: Frak. Kieran Gibbs left injured in the 21st minute of England’s U-21’s match against Liechtenstein. Which means he could play on the backline of our all-injured team, either bumping Traore or Vela out of the starting 11. Ummm…it also means that we don’t have a left-back at the moment, which means we could be seeing Silvestre at fullback, or Gallas sliding over and Senderos playing center half on Saturday. Neither of those options are anywhere remotely close to acceptable. I know some of you get mad at me for criticizing meaningless international matches and talk about how important it is, the glory of playing for your country, etc. I hope all the glory of playing in international friendlies was worth it when you’re watching Silvestre stumble around like a drunken Frankenstein on Saturday.)
Where Would Arsenal’s Injured List Finish in the Table?(polls)
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