Arsenal On Fire & Madrid In Real Trouble?

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The Ace In The Pack…

I haven’t been excited about an Arsenal game, well since the last Real Madrid game, but the point is that I am preparing myself for possibly the biggest game of our season so far.

The signs look good, with a 4-0 thrashing of Fulham at the weekend in which Thierry Henry showed the Premiership a masterclass in football. He was all over the pitch and watching the game you could see some really hunger and desire – something which some fans have questions over the last few months.

At times, Henry has been branded a lazy player who doesn’t care about Arsenal, but he has always played that way – with a swagger that makes him who he is. Sometimes if he can’t get into a game he does look like he isn’t bothered, and I for one will admit to questioning his commitment at times. But that is a mistake on my part I am happy to admit – Henry loves this club.

But when things go badly fans always look to blame something for the poor form, and with Henry as captain it is easy to fault his performances.

So let’s hope this can be a change of fortunes for us in a difficult transitional season for the gunners…

Although Spurs are 5 points ahead of us, it is comforting to know that Arsenal are having the most problematic season for almost a decade, while our neighbours are flying by their own standards. If they don’t finish above us this season they never will!

Real Madrid in comparison are having real in house problems of their own.

Florentino Perez quit as Real Madrid’s president because of the big problems behind the scenes at Madrid – like Ronaldo threatening to quit because apparently the fans don’t love him, no-one celebrating with Sergio Ramos when he put Real 1-0 up against Mallorca and David Beckham has spoken out how off the field problems are affecting the team.

Although Madrid have so many egos in the team, it is surprising to me that problems are arising now – they’ve had the biggest players in the world join them over the last 6 years and have done pretty well over that time, although I believe that they haven’t won anything for the last 3 seasons.

But of course, it would be stupid to underestimate Real Madrid tomorrow night.

We all know what siege mentality can do to a team, and we might just find that Real will be fighting harder than ever before to salvage thier Champions League status.

Not many people are giving Real a chance tomorrow night. But who gave us a chance two weeks ago?

Get ready for the biggest game of the season.

Match Report: Arsenal Win With Henry Magic

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The Thierry Henry Show!

Arsenal cruised to a 4-0 thrashing of Fulham, with inspirational play from Captain Fantastic. Watch out Real Madrid!

Arsenal started with Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Freddie, Diaby, Gilberto, Hleb, Adebayor & captain Thierry Henry.

Arsenal started lively, and in the first half created the better chances.

The short-passing moves were excellent, except for a few stray balls from Adebayor and Hleb. Hleb does seem to be improving a little game by game, but his passing really does have to step up if he wants a more regular place in the team.

Arsenal were again playing their narrow football, and Fulham were playing deep like Blackburn, Bolton and most of the home teams this season in the league, and letting the gunners play all their football in front of them.

But the warning signs were there, and Eboue sent a great curling ball over the top for Henry on 13 minutes, but the Arsenal captain was unable to control the ball and it went straight into Warner’s hands.

Diaby and Adebayor had a couple of efforts from outside the area, but on 31’ Henry got his chance and smashed a brilliant effort at the near post.

With Fulham camped outside their own penalty area, Diaby managed to play Henry through with a precise ball and the striker ran down the left side and cracked a sweet shot into Warner’s near post and into the roof of the net.

An emphatic finish!

After that, Fulham were rattle and Arsenal only had to wait 4 minutes until their next goal.

The influential Ljungberg played a through ball from almost the same position as Diaby for Henry, but this time to Adebayor. From almost exactly the same position, the Togo International coolly slipped the ball past Warner with his left foot.

At last, Arsenal’s intricate passing moves have paid off in the league and they went into the break 2-0 up.

Arsenal started well in the second half, and on 57’ Arsenal counter attacked and Henry played a great reverse ball that fooled the Fulham defence and played in Hleb, but the winger shot straight at Warner.

About a minute later, Adebayor almost played in Freddie from the by-line but Warner came out quick and blocked the pass.

Arsenal were really turning up the heat in the second half and on 64’ Hleb pushed the ball wide to Eboue, who made a run from the back. He cut the ball back to Diaby, who had so much space but from only 6 yards out he hit the ball into Warner’s legs.

Then just 30 seconds later, the mercurial Thierry Henry received a pass from Hleb just outside the D, swivelled and chipped the ball into the air. In one smooth movement, he turned and volleyed but over the bar.

Dennis Bergkamp made is welcome return on 70 minutes, coming on for Adebayor. Hopefully he’s getting a run out to get ready for the Real Madrid game on Wednesday.

Henry had been on awesome form all afternoon, and just after Bergkamp was introduced he played in Freddie, who waltzed through but Warner made another good smothering save with his feet.

But Henry again showed why we was on another level to everyone else on the pitch, and Freddie played him in on 75’ for Titi to calmly slot the ball into the far corner – a typical Henry finish.

Arsenal had been playing some brilliant stuff all game and it looks like Wenger has instilled some real belief into a team who can’t seem to win away from home.

The Galactikid Cesc Fabregas replaced Hleb with 10 minutes to go, to sure up the game and get a run out before the midweek Champions League game.

With 7 minutes remaining Jose Antonio Reyes came on for Henry, who came off to a standing ovation from the Gunners faithful.

But the goals didn’t dry up with Henry leaving the feel, as on 86’, Flamini found himself at the by-line and played in Cesc Fabregas in and he stroked the ball into the bottom left corner for 4-0.

Great game, great team spirit and great performance. Was there any doubt?

Cole Sues, Milan Inter Henry & Fulham Styles…

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Less Complicated Times…

The main Arsenal news today is that Ashley Cole is suing The News of the World for their gay footballer rumours, which I haven’t heard much about to be honest. The story gets more complicated however, since Cole is suing because he wasn’t named. Work that one out! There’s a good piece by The Times Online explaining exactly what’s going on.

Although the News of the World didn’t name the Premiership footballers, the Internet has been rife with haphazard speculation and I won’t bother support the sites by posting the links on here.

I could care less about the whether a player is gay or not, but we all know that the press are hell bent in uncovering these stories since they sell newspapers. I thought he was marrying that girl from Girl Zone anyway. Or is it Girls Are Very Loud. Whatever.

Cesc Fabregas is making the news again, after his impressive performance against the Ivory Coast for Spain midweek. He made one of the goals and had a very solid performance. Apparently Real Madrid want him now, and bringing it up now sure isn’t a co-incidence with the 2nd leg next week.

Jose Antonio also played for Spain, coming on as a second half subsitute and scoring a great right-footed goal. Why can’t he do this for Arsenal more consistently?

There are more rumours about Henry’s future, and apparently Inter Milan have joined the race with Real and Barca. Henry is good friends with Becks and he’s come out and said Henry will be staying in London so I think I’d believe that more than any speculation.

Arsenal’s official website informs us that Freddie and Dennis are back for the Fulham game tomorrow, which is good news. I’d like Bergkamp to start tomorrow but I have a feeling that Henry will be partnered with Emmanuel Adebayor again.

Bergkamp hasn’t had a decent run in the team this season which is a real shame. He obviously isn’t the same player he was a few years ago but he can still find that killer pass which is something we’re really struggling for this season.

I hope he gets to start against Madrid next week. When watching the game at the Bernabeu the space Real left at the back was perfect for Dennis – he would have ripped that defense to shreads, and that would have given Henry more licence to concentrate on scoring goals, instead of trying to create chances for everyone else.

Rob Styles is the official for tomorrows game, and looking at this article it seems he has a problem with Fulham, awarding penalities against them and showing cards like David Blaine. Let’s hope if he has a bad game it’s in our favour! We need all the help we can get in the league…

Can Arsenal Keep Having Henry As Captain?

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Is Henry The Man To Lead Arsenal’s Future?

It’s hard not to think about Arsenal’s fortunes this season. Currently 7th in the league, out of the FA Cup (which we always do well in), out of the Carling Cup (a final we actually wanted) but we are still in the final 16 of the Champions League.

And even though the Real Madrid game was amazing, and worth the trip out to the Bernabeu – there was still a sense of disappointment with the final result.

Watching the game and the amount of time on the ball Real Madrid allowed Arsenal, I couldn’t help think that the Arsenal of old would have exploited the space more than we did – and push on for a comfortable 3 or 4 goal win.

Except for the games against Boro at Pompy at home, Arsenal have lacked the cutting edge that we all knew Arsenal had. We all know traditionally Arsenal make loads of chances and miss many of them, but we still grab 2/3 goals in a typical game.

But the problem now is we cannot create those clear chances anymore.

Arsenal scored an amazing 87 goals last season, and 73 the season we were unbeaten. This season the gunners have scored 39 with only 11 games remaining.

Of course, we all know Bobby & Freddie have been very ineffective this season, and Robin Van Persie is our second top scorer behind Henry – and he’s been injured for parts of the season!

The injuries to major attacking forces like Bergkamp, Van Persie, Ashley Cole have been a problem, but despite that we’ve had Ljungberg, Pires, Reyes and the new Emmanuel Adebayor that should have done the business.

When Henry doesn’t score, then Arsenal don’t score.

The presence of Vieira has clearly been a problem this season, with Arsenal missing his fight, determination and ability to drive games forward. He was a brilliant captain and is an Arsenal legend.

But you can’t help feeling that Henry’s appointment as captain is just giving him a reason to stay at Arsenal, and is just hampering the team on the pitch.

I’m not going to question Henry’s commitment to the cause, because over the years he, along with Vieira has been a driving force in the team.

But the captaincy is not for him.

There is a major difference in Henry’s approach this season, and it is clear the captaincy is a burden that is effecting his performances on the pitch. Although he is obviously still one of the world’s best players, he simply is not the same as seasons gone by.

When Henry scores, his celebrations suggest he has the weight of the world on his shoulders – as if he knows that if he doesn’t score Arsenal won’t get a result.

Henry cannot lead the team and he should be left to do what he does best – scoring goals, creating opportunities and changing matches.

The problem now is that it’s almost impossible to pass the captaincy to anyone else while Henry is an Arsenal player.

What kind of message would it send out?

And who else could do the job? Lehmann is a possibility, and I think the responsibility would make him a more mature influence on the pitch. Campbell would have been another possible candidate, but his latest behaviour suggests he couldn’t handle it. Ashley Cole’s mind is at another club and although Fabregas would be a good captain in a few years it’s far too early for him at the moment.

The only other real candidates in the squad are Lauren and Toure, who both would do a decent job.

As it is apparent that Arsenal’s other major problem is in the middle of the park since Vieira’s departure, I would like to see Toure or Lauren lead the team from central midfield. After all, not so long ago Kolo and Lauren played there for their International teams, and are comfortable in that position. Both a good ball winners, have pace and have an eye for a pass.

With the rapid and impressive development of Eboue at right back, Arsene should really consider putting our number 12 in the centre – it’s not that crazy an idea!

Fabregas likes going forward and playing that final ball and with solid players like Diaby and Lauren next to him, he would have the freedom to do just that.

But Arsene will stick with his ‘experienced’ players, which include Campbell and Gilberto.