Happy labor day from the U.S. of A. It’s a holiday here where we celebrate, erm, well, uhh, labor by taking a day off. From the sound of things in London (there’s a Tube Strike brewing) you lot should take the day off as well.
Regardless the holidays or strikes the blog never rests!
Except there isn’t much to report. Oh well, I can already hear you all saying “so what? Start typing blog monkey!”
Koscielny gave an interview on Arsenal TV Online in which he talks about building his strength, how he learned from the Diouf challenge, and how he feels about the League. My favorite tidbit? Koscielny won every single tackle he tried in Ligue 1 last year. What’s funny about that is that I thought he should have tackled Diouf and given the fact that that’s his strength I’m even more surprised he didn’t. He does mention that the red card he received at Liverpool played a part in why he played the ball the way he did, so I guess that explains that.
The only other thing I’m going to report is that Arsenal on TV in the USA is looking very favorable with one notable exception: Tiny Totts in the Carling Cup on Tuesday the 21st. The schedule lists the match as available via ATVO but my experience is that we can’t watch that until several hours after the match already finished.
I’m not going to talk about how van der Vaart says that Liverpool wanted to take him and that Redknapp is lying about the supposed £18m bid that Bayern lodged. No, that’s just Redknapp trying to show how much of a wheeler-dealer he is, nothing to report there!
And I’m also not going to lend any credence to the reports that Farça are saving the #4 shirt for Cesc. There are 4 whole months before the transfer window opens and the Cesc to Barca stories start again in earnest. Can’t we get a day off from those stories? We could call it “Cesc to Barca Stories are Laborious Day” and no one would be allowed to write a single story that is even tangentially related to Cesc to Barca.
That would truly be a day of rest.
Arsenal News 24/7
Both those links to the TV schedules off the USA site were quite helpful–I seldom check the USA site, so know I am encouraged to do so.
Do you know of any similar resource for us Gooners living in Canada? We get some of the same packages, like FSC as Fox Sports World, but other things are different. Anyway, that is a question for Canadian gooners who might know and frequent this site as well.
September 6th, 2010 at 8:35 am
@Limestonegunner, http://www.livesoccertv.com/
They list all the stuff for USA and Canada.
September 6th, 2010 at 8:41 am
@Tim, thanks–that’s very helpful. I watched the Koscielny interview you suggested. It was quite interesting. He doesn’t seem ruffled that Squillaci is coming and has a sober but confident look about him. I’m not sure what he means exactly about the red card being on his mind on the Diouf assist. I don’t remember his first yellow at Liverpool but the second was for a handball.
It is quite telling that he characterized the French league as tactical by comparison to the speed, physicality and highball directness of the PL. Not missing a tackle in the French league 1 might have been possible because of good positioning and reading the game, but it is harder to do that when the game moves much faster. It’ll be interesting to see how he continues to adapt, though I expect Squillaci to get a start with Vermaelen soon, and I’m eager to see how he plays as well.
September 6th, 2010 at 10:08 am
@Limestonegunner, Hi Cappies. I think “ToTo” will play CL and Kozzer will play EPL. In regard to the Blackburn game, Kozzer should have done what Lauren did to Ronaldo. Trip him outside the box.
Tim: Happy Labor Day. Does one say Happy or Best Wishes. Hmmmm
On another matter: I am still “p**t off” that Cesc is going all the way to Argentina for a friendly.
September 6th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Found this website recently which is also helpful
http://footballtvcanada.blogspot.com/
Its possible for me to watch only the premier league and champions league matches here in India.Robben teases RVP by saying he will be a bit upset now since VDV has chosen spurs instead of arsenal.I think robben should zip his mouth and should start learning how to play unselfishly just like RVP 10
September 6th, 2010 at 10:11 am
@Bala, Hi my Asia friend. At least you have a choice. I am travellig soon the Caribbean for 6 months and they only show the EPL there. I am trying to find alternatives on-line for the CJ, FA and Worthless Cup.
Bala, you’ve got that right. I think is was very foolish of Robben to speak in this way. First, I think instead of needling RvP he should remember that his and Sneijder’s selfish play that kept RvP isolated was a big reason they didn’t win in the WC final. Secondly, he looks like a complete idiot if he imagines VdV dramatically changes the Spuds, who already have Modric and Kranjiar to play centrally in midfield and several strikers. So it isn’t clear VdV even will play regularly unless ‘Arry tries mixing up his formations–I’d like to see him suddenly imagining he is a tactical genius as well as a wheeler dealer! Clearly Robben is carrying over his animosity toward Arsenal from his Chelsea days. People are just obsessed with Arsenal, whether it is Mourinho, former PL players like Robben, or former Arsenal players like Adebayor. Does it anger them that we stand apart and are still quite successful? Props to Carragher for noting that Arsenal are well-run and admiring how we do things.
Ya good to see Caragher speaking good abt arsenal.Also Robben says VDV is better than Cesc and so spurs are level with arsenal.Absolute nonsense and big joke.May be Robben will sign for the wheeler-dealer next summer.
September 6th, 2010 at 10:12 am
@Bala, Don’t get sucked in by that report. Robben and the Dutch master are friends. You expect that from him.
September 6th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Imagine that would you, there are actual friends on the Dutch team. They are like a dysfunctional, small minded group of losers IMO.
Robben should be focusing on getting that hole in his muscle fixed before Bayern Munich fade into the sunset. The same hole that his National Team coach doesn’t know how it got there.
You have one of the original assholes from our past Rudolf the red nose stating that RVP was not a “natural scorer”. Then along come Robben trying to big up Sp**s. News flash Robben, van dar Vaart couldn’t drive the Real Madrid bus and he damn sure won’t be able to drive the Sp**s bus.
It is bad enough when you have the British Media on our backs, now we’ve got Dutch twerps chipping away at us. Thank god we have Carragher on our side.
I’m betting that Fox Soccer Plus will be showing our Carling Cup tie against Sp*rs. They always show 1 or 2 League Cup games each round, and our tie is clearly the best of the bunch for the 3rd round.
If it’s not on FS+, it might be on ESPN3.com, which I seem to remember our League Cup game against Liverpool was last season.
As for van der Vaart, am I the only one who thinks this guy is the Dutch Joe Cole? They’re both in their late 20′s, neither could make a big enough impact at a massive club, and both are still living off a reputation they built years ago.
I thought he was awful at the World Cup and really never got back on the field once Robben was fit. They tried playing him out on the left the first few group games but his natural instinct was to drift centrally and he made no impact.
I don’t think he’ll make much of a difference for Sp*rs and if he keeps players like Modric and Kranjcar off the pitch, all the better.
September 6th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
You are all over it. Rafael van dar Vaart was slow at the WC and when he was on the ball (when he did get on the pitch)he did nothing, nada, zilch.
OH YOU ALL ARE GONNA LOVE THIS : STOKE MR SHAWRCOSS HAVE SAID THE FOLLOWING:
Wenger has been vocal in his criticism of Shawcross’ tackling before, namely when Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey broke his leg in a challenge with the centre-back last season. And the 25-year-old told the Stoke Sentinel: “He’s obviously got something against me: It’s just weird. “He seems to have a problem with Stoke, our manager and certain players.
PLEASE DISCUSS. Hmmmmmmmm..e…..eeeeee…eee
September 6th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
@LONDON CALLING, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/452833-ryan-shawcross-retaliation-arsenal-and-the-ugly-side-of-football
I think you will appreciate this piece. What I especially like are the comments from Alan Davies. So rare to hear someone with a British accent supporting Arsenal.
September 6th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
@ctpa,
Yes, and Alan really is a gooner, one of our many celeb supporters.
September 7th, 2010 at 12:31 am
@ctpa, He was not best pleased. I heard the original broadcast. I loved the X Factor analogy.
there’s nothing like a timely soundbite is there, mogadon face Shawcross?
I am living in pakistan and have similar problems of not getting all the Arsenal matches live . recently i cam upon this great site that gives many free link to real time live streaming of all the foot mall matches. check it out http://www.myp2p.eu
The London Tube Strike is in full flow. Staying home today. No wish to push and shove on this blessed day. Besides the rain is falling like no tomorrow. The Swiss + England Euro game tonight. 8 p.m. GMT. Rooney is playing. Whatis happening in Arsenal World: Oh yes ! Theo Blackurn Goal won Goal of the Month. Everything else is quiet in the football world, except Aston Villa wants Hollier. hmmmmm London Out
I’m bored so I’ve been reading some of the NewsNow blogs re Arsenal. I found this quote re Arsene Wenger 49ers era. He said of the invincibles “If you eat caviar every day it’s difficult to return to sausages”. I remember the days of Viera, Hency, Pires, Bergkamp, Sol, A Cole, Freddie and a very young Cesc, plus all the other journey men of the team that season. I miss you all. Glory days.