Well, St. Pat Rice’s Day went off without a hitch and I managed to stay away from amateur hour at the local pubs last night. This was partially due to the fact that I was sick as a dog yesterday but also because of my absolute devotion to the tenants of St. Pat Rice: thou shalt watch Champions League football and comment on thy blog, thou shalt not drink, thou shalt get rest so that thou canst work in the morrow, and thou shall maketh polenta for dinner. Hmmm… don’t know where that last one came from, maybe from all the Italian-ness of the Champions League clash between Chelsea and Inter?
Anyway, as I posted yesterday there is a rumor going around in the form of a picture from a trusted source that Arsenal are going to put out a retro kit for the 2010/2011 season. The story basically broke back in February over at Arsenal Insider where they mocked up a shirt based on some information they got from a trusted source. Yesterday, both Arseblog and Gunnerblog got an email from another trusted source which leaked what looks a lot like an advertising mock up of a similar concept to the Arsenal Insider shirt of February.
The public response has been overwhelmingly positive, just as it was back in February. There’s definitely a huge demand for Arsenal to return to the red shirt with white sleeves. I like the concept shirts, I mean, I like them enough that I have a Toffs replica of the red and white shirt that grumpy Charlie George is wearing in this photo:
But my question is about squad numbers. What squad numbers are people going to wear? If we’re going retro can we put the number 10 on our number 10? Please?
In injury news, I actually tweeted yesterday that Cesc and Rosicky were back in training and that Song’s suspension was over for Saturday’s clash against the Hammers. Carlos Vela is also available and could be included in the squad, Eduardo DIDN’T pick up another injury, but Gallas’ calf strain is continuing to perplex medical science and Arsene Wenger and he is out for at least two more weeks — missing Wet Hams and Birming Hams. That’s a bit frustrating but with matches coming a week apart right now we should be able to rotate between Campbell, Silvestre, and Song until our next Champions League match which kicks off on the 30th.
Speaking of the Champions League we now know who we could get in the final 8 and will know who we will get around 3am my time tomorrow. I only got to see a small handful of non-Arsenal Champions League games this season and most of those came over the last two days as I was home sick. So, my opinion on who we should or shouldn’t get is, well, you should ignore it! I do know that Barcelona struggled a bit early on but on yesterday’s performance I have to say “wow, Messi is fucking amazing.” You don’t have to take my word for it, see for yourself:
Don’t get me wrong, I think Arsenal can take them because, uhhh, because we have Big Game Bendtner?* Realistically, no one wants to play Barcelona on their current form and just as realistically someone needs to play them so again, I don’t know. I do know that I watch Bordeaux and I have read about their amazing win streak in the Champions League (7 consecutive wins) and I also know that they should have lost to Olympiacos yesterday.
Bordeaux looked very poor, not creating many chances and very naive on defense and only won the tie because of Chamakh’s brave header at the end. Speaking of Chamakh, he reminded me so much of Bendtner it’s not funny. He screwed up a one-on-one with the keeper with a heavy touch and I could already see him getting stick from the Arsenal support, but he’s a legit hold-up man and can play up front by himself. I think the biggest difference between him and Bendtner is that he’s very aggressive in the air, as his header at the end proves.
I don’t know if he’s signing for Arsenal and I don’t know where Wenger will put him since we’ll have van Persie, Bendtner, Walcott, Eduardo, Vela and now Chamakh. Maybe Wenger will realize his dream and play a 2-2-6? Irregardless where he plays it would be a change to have too many options at striker.
I also got to see the Chelsea v. Inter game and I have to wonder if Inter didn’t have their finest match and over-extend themselves a bit? I think Lucio and a couple others (at least two) will miss the next match due to accumulation of yellow cards and that could prove to be a real advantage to whoever plays them. Again we’ll have to see, if anyone knows for sure, please fill us all in in the comments.
The big story from that tie is the fallout. The Chelsea supporters are reportedly saying that the Champions League isn’t important to them, Abramovich has popped down to the training center and called his team out, and ESPNSoccernet is reporting that John Terry is set to recover from breaking a steward’s leg.** Other members of the British press have similarly leaped to the former England captain’s defense: Jaime Redknapp figured there was no intent so Terry should be left alone, Stan Collymore wrote that the steward was just too quick for John Terry and that the Range Rover lunged clumsily, and Tony Cascarino penned a piece saying that it wasn’t even a yellow light much less a hit and run.
Maybe the press can dig into the steward’s life a bit and see if he isn’t a foreigner and has a history of making a meal of getting run down?
Anyway, that’s it for today, match preview tomorrow along with a Champions League preview. Big day that!
*see 7amkickoff v. Tayo
**it’s not broken, it’s just a bruise but for the jokes to work, it has to be broken.
Stan Collymore also added: the fact that the steward was too quick for Terry proves how wrong 30,000 arsenal fans were to boo him and should be ashamed of themselves. Paul Parker also weighed in – it’s an English game and the steward should consider himself lucky, after all how many people outside a match have been blessed with a John Terry bruise?
John Terry’s mounted so many people that a mere steward residing under the tread of his tires couldn’t even provide any feeling. Hey Terry, that steward’s wife will likely be home alone for a few days while the hubby’s laid up in the hospital. Get on it, mate.
As for the action on the field, impressive header from Chamakh last night, but a bad first touch displayed 10 minutes before that. Would he be fine coming off the bench for us? Because that’s probably what would happen and I’d hope he’d not openly bitch about it. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about this at the moment.
“Irregardless where he plays….”.
Meaning “without no regard for where he plays…”.
Meaning, aw shag it, I have no idea what that means. Double negatives give me a headache.
Hey, I’d take Barcelona given our current form! Moreover, I think it will be safer to take ‘em now than having to play ‘em in the final or semis. That would be just too much pressure for our young team.
Also re: having too many strikers I have to ask this: How realistic is to think that at any given period during a season we will have a 100% fully-fit, injury-free squad? What would’ve happened if arsha picked an injury while he was being played as CF? My point being, you cant never have too many strikers. Now, how do you keep them all happy is another thing.
This might sound crazy, but Song at centerback scares me even more than Silvestre at CB. The reason being that Song’s tackling can be… well, inaccurate, to say the least. He works best as a DM where he can do that and give away fouls instead of penalties!
I have a really good feeling we’re going to absolutely shred West Ham, but there’s just this teeny doubt in the back of my mind. If we score early, I can see us putting 6 past ‘em. We need to start scoring goals to better our goal difference.
Goonwah Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 9:50 am
@Shobo,
There is a very good Alex Dimitre Song Bilong interview, short but sweet, knocking around today..
Anyway..Hes played at CB before for us and done a great job. He’s very rarely beaten in the air and provides far more pace than say, Sol or Silvestre.. I think most of the fouls Song commits around the halfway line are just clever and of course look mistimed and clumsy, otherwise he’d get booked every time.. Gilberto used to do the same.. Masters of breaking up a quick counter attack when needs be. He’s an intelligent player, and I’d have no problem him slotting in at CB in the EPL.. just not against Barcelona.. or Messi.
nycgunner Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Not only that but did you also notice the kind of “fouls” the refs have been consistently calling out against Song in that midfield area? The calls are soft at best. I dare them to call those fouls in the penalty box. I DARE THEM!
44% Man U
34% Arsenal
21% Chelsea
Skysports poll on who will win the League.
Skysports has the first exclusive interview Shawcross. Riveting
Nothing said that changes the opinion that he’s a will continue to be a danger to his fellow professionals’ careers and health. The best part of the interview is Shawcross’s inability in making direct contact with Ramsey. This is 2010, Ryan and we can even make direct contact with anybody in the whole wide world let alone the tiny world of the EPL. BS.
From a pure sporting angle, in the CL, here are the interesting matchups the way I see it: (Note that I am NOT taking into account ‘our chances to get through’ – just how great a game will we get to watch)
-ManU: So we can beat them for revenge and hopefully also derail their EPL chase as well. (Rating: 4.5/5)
-Barcelona: Must be strange to watch Arsenal play the other Arsenal. Or is it Barcelona playing the other Barcelona? (Rating: 5/5)
-Inter: A foul every 30 seconds… no thanks. (2/5)
-Bayern: Will be a great matchup. They come to play. Great players like Robben & Ribery. (3.5/5)
-Lyon: Great team and spirit. Some amazing players like Pjanic & Lisandro. (4/5)
-Bordeaux: Their games are hit and miss, but they play hard 90 minutes. When their on, it’s a great team. (3.5/5)
-CSKA: Never saw them play, but if they play half as decent as Rubin Kazan, it will flow well. Not sure about the field in Russia though… is it turf or grass? (2.5/5)
As far as our chances to go through:
I’d say Bordeaux may be the weakest. Barcelona the strongest. Any of the rest are relatively equal in strength.
If I had to pick, I’d take… Bayern!
Tim Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:58 am
CSKA play on a plastic pitch. Which judging from the Unirea pitch from the other day, is not really that bad.
Fulham up a man and up 2-1 at home to Juventus trying to make a game of it. You get the feeling Fulham will get the 3rd goal they need to go through.
Chance to scout Melo who has been force to play deep in his defensive 1/3 with Cannavaro getting a straight red.
Fulham’s got the all important 3rd goal now they need to score the winning goal without conceding.
Let’s hope we get a favourable draw next.
Tim, are you creating a post for the draw so we can all bullshit away in the morning?
Tim Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
@Patrick, Sure, I’ll have it go up tonight (tomorrow your time).
Patrick Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Cheers, Big Ears.
The kit is nice and traditionally arsenal.
We in nigeria, changed chelsea ‘s name from the blues to the bruised.
If chamack we come to arsenal then,one striker from the current squad will have to leave.
this is my first comment on this blog but no ever pass me by.
gunner4life
nice job tim.
I wanted say no article ever pass me by.
GOD is GONNER
that is written both in my room
i’ve just watched that gerrard ‘elbow’ incident on your video posted below. what a lousy scouse scumbag, forget the FA investigating, the police should investigate that shit. two elbows to the head for no apparent reason…and after flipping off the ref last week. the respect campaign just turned in its grave.
Gerrard and Wooney are graceful divers. Watch the match between this 2 greatest English twat on Sunday. We’ll see who’s the greatest diver of all.