T*sser Of The Month Awards: Bentley or Diarra?

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You can understand why players could be upset at leaving Arsenal, especially when it’s for a smaller team but David Bentley and Lassana Diarra take it to another level.

Last week it was reported that David Bentley was “close to quitting football” and that he “lost his love for football” during his time at Arsenal. The poor guy had this to say:

“When I was at Arsenal I lost my love for the game. I sat down one day and thought: ‘I go to work, yet I don’t want to’

“When you you’re not enjoying yourself it doesn’t matter whether you are at a top club or not. If you don’t enjoy your time, what’s the point?

“It crossed my mind that football might not be for me. I thought about what I really wanted to do.”

Yeah, I really feel for the guy.

It must be so hard being a professional footballer. Nevermind that millions across the world would kill to be in his profession, and that he is being paid ridiculous amounts of money while the fans work hard to afford tickets just to attend the games.

Jesus Christ.

Seriously, is this guy completely deluded? Many players have career-ending injuries before they even get their chance at the big time and this t*sser is moaning about not enjoying himself. Why not try working 9 to 5 like the rest of us you stupid c*nt.

What planet is this guy on?

He’s obviously spent too much time around Cashley “how can I possibly live on £55k a week” Cole and Jermaine “let’s crash into a lamp-post and tell the Police my name is Ashley Cole” Pennant.

And then we come to Lassana Diarra, who has found a “regular first-team place” at Portsmouth.

He talked about how long he’s been waiting for his chance:

“I need to play. I am fed up of pleasing people. I am 22-years-old and the most important thing to me is football, my job, my passion.

“I know the trainer of Portsmouth and I know that he will play me. Everything has been very clear.”

Of course.

I really don’t understand this guy. He joins Arsenal, a team which actually gives youngsters a chance but is far too impatient – and Arsene usually doesn’t make you wait long anyway! It’s not as if Wenger has given Cesc, Cashley, Flamini, Clichy or Kolo a chance is it? Oh wait…

And I really feel for Harry Redknapp.

Because if Diarra is anything like he was at Arsenal the moment Diarra sits on the bench for a game then he will be throwing the toys out of the pram. The very reason Pompy bought him was because they have lost a lot of players to the African Cup of Nations so when those guys return Diarra is going to be a royal pain in the arse.

Good luck Harry.

Not Too Sure What To Think After The Weekend…

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So Arsenal dropped two points at home against Birmingham City.

And to almost compound the misery, later that afternoon Manchester United convincingly crushed Newcastle United 6-0 to go level on points with us and to nick top spot by virtue of goal difference.

It seems in the last few weeks Arsenal have stuttered slightly, and haven’t really reached the level of performance we saw earlier in the season. But of course, all teams have bad patches throughout the campaign and it seems ours is happening now. The big question is when we can get out of it and start performing at our peak again.

But if we look at the season more closely things aren’t as bad as they seem. Arsenal lose points mainly because they draw matches they play badly in, while United tend to nick a win when things aren’t going their way. Although saying that, they have lost more games than we have this season.

The Birmingham game was a match we should have won, and even though they played well there really wasn’t any reason we didn’t get all 3 points. None of the big names played in the Carling Cup midweek and we should played much better instead of ticking along.

Many people have pointed out that after 22 games if you said we were on the same number points as the league leaders then we would take that all day long. Unfortunately maybe we’ve been bringing this point up far too much. Arsene keeps bringing it up, and it’s almost as if we feel privileged to be there, when in reality we could be several points clear at the top.

But on the other hand, maybe Arsene is making a valid point.

I mean just look at Liverpool.

It could be said we’ve been struggling recently but Liverpool are still an amazing 12 points behind with over 16 games to go. They haven’t won the league in over 17 years and this season doesn’t look like being the year that will change the history books.

The fact is Arsenal have 16 cup-ties left in the Premier League and it’s as simple as that.

It’s hard to imagine Arsenal would have drawn at the weekend if Kolo Toure was playing, and Senderos has a lot to prove over the next few weeks.

If Arsenal are within 3/4 points of Manchester United by the time Kolo and Eboue return I’ll be more than happy.

Spurs Still Can’t Beat A Rubbish Arsenal Side!

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Arsenal (1) – (1) Tottenham Hotspur
Walcott (78′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

Last night was not a good performance, and Tottenham still couldn’t beat us!

After a bright opening 15 minutes, Spurs pretty much controlled the game and we stuggled to create any real chances in the entire 90 minutes.

If Spurs can’t beat us when we play like that, then they never will.

They even dropped Paul Robinson and had Ledley King back, but still they couldn’t hold on for the win.

With Senderos and Djourou starting together for the first time you could see the defence struggling throughout the first half, as Berbatov single-handedly ripped our backline time after time. We were fortunate when Spurs kept wasting their opportunities but on 36 minutes our luck ran out as Jenas was left with a simple tap in to score from close range.

Replays showed that Arsenal had held a perfect line – except for Senderos that is who was 4 yards behind the other players and kept Robbie Keane onside. I would rather have Djourou alongside Gallas for the next month, and the wrong player was taken off at half-time.

So Djourou was replaced with Sagna at the break and Hoyte was pushed into the middle. And Eduardo came on for the rusty Van Persie.

And Bacary Sagna made a huge different.

After a disjointed first half, Sagna added some stability and fight to the team. He was Arsenal’s Man of the Match and he only played 45 minutes.

The midfield was suffering, and it’s so sad to say it but Gilberto looked completely lost. Denilson was trying to run the midfield by himself and was crowded out, and Diaby and Theo just couldn’t get into the game. You saw it before the match even started – not being a first team regular really has effected Gilberto and most of the time he looks depressed, and it’s effecting him on the pitch. He’s never been the best passer of the ball, but he lost the ball on far too many occassions last night.

Am I right in thinking that we have yet to win a game this season when Gilberto starts? There was last night, the Champions League game against Sevilla and then the matches in the North East against Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

Diaby and Traore seemed to have a personal competition going with each other to see who can beat the most players without actually passing the ball. It got pretty boring after the first 10 minutes but they kept trying it throughout the match.

I can’t remember when an Arsenal side lost the ball so cheaply and so often than they did last night.

With the midfield struggling, Arsenal’s forwards rarely got the ball and Bendtner and Eduardo couldn’t impose themselves in the game – and the same was for Van Persie in the first half. Things opened up in the last 10 minutes when Theo ‘scored’ the equaliser and it was a really fantastic throughball from Eduardo to put him through.

It was a strange game yesterday. The kids are usually fearless and have brilliant movement and a high passing tempo but it seemed to stall last night. I suppose we have to give credit to Spurs (unfortunately) who did have their strongest possible team out. And after being beaten by Arsene twice this season already Juande Ramos was always going to make sure his side didn’t lose again.

1-1 is a decent result, because Arsenal WILL score at White Hart Lane and if Arsenal score twice in the second leg it’s pretty much game over.

Predictions? Goals, Goals And More Goals…

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Tottenham Hotspur (The Emirates Stadium)
Carling Cup Semi Final (1st Leg)
Wednesday 9th January 2008
Kick Off: 7.45pm – Live On Sky Sports 1

Well if there’s one thing we know about a North London Derby it’s the fact that there’s always goals.

It’s mainly because Arsenal can score against any team, and the that Spurs can’t defend and they have Paul Robinson in goal.

And tonight will see Djourou and Senderos at central defence for the first time this season. I could make a joke here about Swiss Rolls but that would be too obvious, and quite frankly pretty sad. Armard Traore will play at left-back where he has impressed in the Carling Cup. I have noticed that he tries to take on players in his own half though far too much when a simple pass is the easier option. Anyone else noticed this?

Lukasz Fabianski will be in goal as well so it will be a pretty inexperienced defence going against Spurs’ 1st team, who will probably still be p*ssed off about what happened the last time they came to the Emirates. So you can be sure they’ll be up for tonight.

And because Berbatov will be trying to impress the bigger clubs so he can move in January you can expect a performance from him.

Van Persie has just returned from injury but looks to start on the bench, so it looks like Eduardo could be playing upfront with Bendtner once again – which seems to be a partnership both players like. Theo, Denilson and Diaby have been tipped to start as well so you can see an explosive, high-tempo game tonight with a hell of a lot of pace all over the pitch.

So what are your predictions for tonight?

After all that, I’ve probably just jinxed the game to end 0-0!

Arsenal Cruise With Eduardo Da Killer

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Arsenal (2) – (0) West Ham United
Eduardo (2′), Adebayor (19′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

I only caught the highlights on MOTD last night so can only comment on certain aspects of last nights game, but one thing is clear – Eduardo’s form is going to be vital in the next few months.

After only two minutes, smart play from Cesc Fabregas on the right resulted in a cross into the area for Eduardo, who coolly chested the ball down and slashed in a killer volley to open the scoring after only 2 minutes.

Eduardo scores the first chance of the game!

I know my last match report of the Everton game kept harping on about this guy but he really is such a amazing finisher.

This kid doesn’t need second chances.

To score in such a ruthless manner and so early really is a huge advantage. Yesterday’s game was pretty comfortable but if Arsenal don’t get that first goal early then almost anything could happen (remember this fixture last season?) but with someone with such a killer instinct helps tenfold.

I know many people (including Arsene) have compared him to Robbie Fowler, but for me Eduardo is more like Ruud Van Nistelrooy. In the box, he’s devastating and always finds the net and if you create chances for him he will take them. And like the Dutchman, he probably won’t score too many outside the box but who cares when he scores so many inside it?

What I love about Eduardo is he just gets the ball into the net. He isn’t going to take on 4 players or make defence-splitting passes – he is just a predator, plain and simple. We’ve been accused of profligacy too many times in the past and now that has changed. Although to be fair, the more ruthless streak could be said about the team as a whole and not just Eduardo.

I have to admit though that almost had a heart attack when Eduardo missed a header at the far post later in the second half but replays showed his shirt was being tugged by Lucas Neill I think it was.

The second goal was from Adebayor, who’s pace took him away from the defence and he somehow managed to scored from a seemingly impossible angle.

With Adebayor and Eduardo playing together to such devastating effect, we’re lucky that Ade isn’t off to the ACN with Kolo and Eboue. The arrival of Eduardo (in a metaphorical sense obviously) also eases the pressure off Adebayor to keep performing and also comes at the perfect time as it looks like Robin will be about for a few weeks yet.

But of course, as much as things are going well for Arsenal there is some bad news, which is Kolo is now away with the Ivory Coast for the ACN. Depending how far they get Kolo might not be back until mid-February, and it’s hard to say how he will be mentally and physically after an intense tournament like the African Cup of Nations. We know Eboue is going too, but with Sagna making the right-back slot his own Arsenal will just miss out on a midfield player which is an area we seem to have well-covered.

So Gallas will be partnered with either Djourou or Senderos during this time, and even Gilberto possibly depending on what the boss thinks is best. I know a few people aren’t sure about Big Phil despite his experience but between the two Swiss Internationals I think we’re well covered.

Well Arsenal are two points clear after Kolo’s last game, so I guess we’ll see where we are when the rock returns next month.