Beating Palace Was a Huge Win

After what was a woefully disappointing opening game against West Ham, There was nothing more important that getting three points. We did that. Prior to the game I was cursing the fact that Palace away was our second game in which we were hoping to do just that. They are a strong outfit and one that will be tough this season I'd imagine. Alan Pardew is a jerk, we all know that but he can put together a very able team when he seems to feel like it.

Alan Pardew being a jerk aside, we did exactly what we had to do - win.

More about the match here.

FA Cup Review

Well that was good... and bad. I think it's safe to say that in the first half nothing really happened, with both teams waiting for the other to do something in what was the footballing equivilent of "you hang up"- "no you hang up!" After that we were finally given the exciting game most people had been anticipating.

As predicted, Arsenal fielded a strong team while Swansea City fielded a slightly weaker than usual eleven. Walcott was slid back out to the right allowing for the return of Giroud to the starting team and Cazorla was moved out to the left allowing Aaron Ramsey a rare start in the centre of midfield. Arsenal started the second half well but went behind to a goal which was delivered by the first touch of Michu after coming on as a sub. Arsenal responded soon after with goals by Podolski, who came on off the bench, and Gibbs. Gibbs' goal in particular was spectacular, a one-two with Giroud who lifted the ball over the defence (not unlike the podolski blooter against Montpellier) back to Gibbs who surveyed the goalkeepers position and calmly placed the ball into the far corner blasted the ball into the roof of the net.

I did feel good seeing Gibbs score such an emphatic goal. All to often I feel Gibbs lets himself down by getting into a great position and then making the wrong choice (passing when he should have shot and vice versa). As the ball was dropping to him you could see wallcott had followed him into the box and was available for the square ball but it was clear he had made his choice and it was very much the right one. Podolski's goal before that was a very instictuous finish which is always nice to see in a team that is often accused of being overly elaborate.

Having praised Gibbs' performance going forward, we should note that his defending was terrible, allowing Swansea alot of joy down the right flank. Some of the best full-backs in the world are the ones who add an attacking threat to a team while maintaining their ability to defend (Dani Alves springs to mind). I just wonder whether Gibbs has the ability to perform both or whether he can only excell at one at the expense of the other. If that is the case, I'd rather my defender was, first and foremost, defending.

Picture by Ronnie Macdonald

Aaron Ramsey played ok in the middle of the park, you can see that the movement and intentions of the player are intellegent but sometimes he is a bit too clumsey to pull things off (tripping over himself and claiming a penalty comes to mind). After going one nil down, Wenger took off Ramsey for Podolski allowing Cazorla to step back into the centre of the midfield and the team really did play alot better. It really was a very apparant change in gear from the gunners which lead to the two goals and the shortlived lead. Teams must really fancy their chances against us when we step into the lead because we seem to very accomadating towards them scoring an equaliser.

The defending for the Swansea equaliser wasn't just bad (god was it bad), but it was very strange. The goal came from a corner which landed at the feat of Ki and was then passed forward to Graham who was given as much space as that guy on my bus who smells like hotdog water. The weird part was how the zonal marking for the corner (yes I know, we all hate zonal marking) didn't seem to have any kind of contingency plan for when the ball falls to someone's feet. The ball was controlled and everyone just looked at it and froze, in their cute little zonal marking formation. Graham then walked passed the queue of Arsenal players and called for the ball. Arteta who was positioned on the post could clearly foresee him receiving the ball but god forbid he left his position at the post in case he flicks it back up and decides to header it in. I don't think the goal is another example of the failures of zonal marking, I think it's an example of the failures of common sense.

Another two goals scored, another two goals conceded, another date with Swansea. Fuck.

Hasta luego Goonitos

The Goonatic

Match Day and Djourou Departure

We face Swansea City in the third round of the FA Cup today. The game is scheduled to kick off at 13.30 at the Liberty Stadium. I'd imagine you, like me, are expecting an appropriate reaction to the previous encounter between the two clubs. I almost prefer to play clubs like Swansea, where we know a challenging game is a gaurentee, away from home as our away fans are some of the best in the country and in a smaller stadium they really do sound great. An FA Cup is probably the top of most fans realistic hopes for this season so lets hope Le Boss and the boys are approaching the competition under the same impression.

"Have you forgotten about the Champions League?!" No I have not, but it's pretty fair to say that our chances in Europe are not quite what they were four or so years ago. But who knows, maybe if we don't worry about it too much, we can do a Chelsea. We may need to work on our penalties though.

Our team this season is relatively new in terms of the new players that have come in along with the previously injured, returning players. We are definately still learning about how they perform and deal with certain challenges and that makes cup games extra interesting for me. The FA Cup is always played with a higher level of intensity, each round has that cup final mentality which is reflected in some of the outrageous scorelines down the years or the reputation for teams being fatigued after having had a cup fixture. Instead of the usual league matches it will be intriguing to see if and how the team change their play to match the intensity of a 'knockout' competition. These are all accomplished players and of course we know that they can adapt their game as individuals to suit the occasion but the question remains as to whether the team as a unit can accomplish it.

The usual way to do this is to maintain a high tempo throughout the game. We know how talented our players are so they are more than able to achieve that tempo but Swansea City are certainly a team to match it, meaning organisation and discipline could very well decide the game. All that being said, here's hoping for a great game and a big fat win for the gunners.

Pictures by Ronnie Macdonald 

Johan Djourou's season loan to Hannover has been finalised. Good to see him going out on loan in search of some playing time and maybe he'll establish himself into the first team for his new german side and return back to London with some admirers. I don't see why not as he's been great when given his chance in his preferred position in the centre of defence. While I can live with Chamakh leaving the club, I'm glad Djourou is only out on loan.

Come On Arsenal!

The Goonatic

Swansea City Away and Rumours of the Day

It looks as though the Chamakh to West Ham talk has materialised as a six month loan deal with a view to buy at the end of the season. Clearly he doesn't feature in Le Boss's plans anymore so if we can get him off our books then that's great. All the best to you Marouane. Thank you and good luck.    

Moving on, it's the third round of the FA Cup this weekend and we travel to The Liberty Stadium to face Swansea City for the second time this season. I don't think it's neccessary that I remind you how we faired against them about a month ago at the Emirates. For me, that game was undoubtedly the second lowest point of the season so far, just beaten by Le Boss's zip breaking live on TV. If we can't manage our wardrobe, how are we supposed to manage a football club. Frankly it is an embarrasment I would like to put behind Arsenal Football Club and move on.

I suggest that an excellent way to do this, will be by beating Swansea tomorrow and moving into the fourth round of the FA Cup. Swansea just so happen to have a Captial One Cup semi-final with Chelsea to worry about on the following wednesday so don't be too surprised (and delighted) if we face up against a weakened team on Sunday afternoon should they prioritise one cup over another. Expect to see the impressive Michu sit this one out as he has just recently returned from injury. Unlike Swansea, we are coming out of the tail end of a fixture list about as squashed as our title hopes, meaning our following game is a week away. So expect a full team (not that you wouldn't have anyway).

Having said that, we should be confident that our team is more than capable of outplaying Swansea, weakened team or not. Do not get me wrong, I have been just as impressed with Swansea this season (and last) as everyone else has, and rightly so. They are a team that is very confident on the ball who aim to play football in a style that is attractive and entertaining and as a gooner, I certainly respect that. Having said that, Arsenal should be aiming to win this match on their own merits and not on conditions which force Swansea to rest players etc.

Pictures by Ronnie Macdonald

There is alot of discussion about how seriously Arsenal should be taking the FA Cup in light of the fact that we haven't won it, or anything else, in quite a few years. I think four or five years ago Le Boss was a bit more coy in his selections at this stage of the competition, still fielding some of the young guns, but in recent years I think he has accepted the situation and recognises that this is perhaps our best chance of some decent silverware. Though it was the league cup, I still rue the day we slipped up against Birmingham City in Wembly. I honestly think just winning any cup would do wonders for the mentality of the squad. No cup should be balked at, no matter the size of it. Just look how mental everyone goes over the Ashes.

Right, now if you would kindly follow me into the rumour mill. Twitter has EXPLODED with David Villa rumours. I say exploded, really there was just some tweet in french about it but the french definately seems to lend it a sense of authority so I'm sold. All kidding aside there are some Villa rumours going around from somewhat reliable sources stating a €15M fee has been offered. What makes it slightly believable is that €15M is a pretty classic Arsene Wenger offer. It's very much his 'go to' offer.

If we assume for a minute that this offer is real and the rumours are true, what then do people think of David Villa joining the club? You hear the name and your immidiate reaction is ''brilliant''. You hear the age and recent injury trouble and you still react with "brilliant''. Honestly, if he breaks in a couple years but did well until then, and his record for club and country suggests he likely would, he would be worth the €15M, especially considering the sum of money we received for Van Persie. But hey, this is just another rumour for now so I wouldn't give it much credence until he conforms to his Arsenal DNA and signs da ting (I've already ordered my Villa Jersey).

Enjoy your weekend, goonpa loompas.

The Goonatic

We Need To Talk Abou Diaby

First off, it looks as though Chamakh and Djourou are going to be shipped off to new teams. Djourou appears to have a loan deal with Hannover set up. There are alot of people who would perhaps rather see him sold but I still think he has something to offer but here's hoping the deal includes Hannover paying his wages. Chamakh on the other hand appears on the verge of being sold to West Ham, according to the BBC.
It seems an odd purchase by West Ham, as you would imagine he would compete for the same position as Andy Carrol. It's good news for both Arsenal FC and Chamakh though as we are no longer spending thousands a week for him to warm the bench and he needn't leave London. Good luck to them both.

With news that Andre Santos and Abou Diaby have both returned to training, would I be correct in saying we have a fully fit, injury free and unafflicted squad? It really is hard to believe. So much so that I think it is quite likely that there is one injured member of the squad just pretending to be fit so as not to spoil the momentous occasion. Assuming nobody is pretending however, Le Boss must surely be delighted to be starting the new year, on the back of a very busy few weeks of football, with a full squad of players to choose from. Our christmas schedule was admittedly less busy than others thanks to the diligent London tube drivers. I have a theory that all the tube drivers are gooners and wanted the day off to watch the match and in doing so, effectivley had the match called off. It's like a modern day Shakespearean tragedy.

So... A fully fit squad? Yes. That includes everyone? Yes. Even Diaby? Yes, even Diaby. It seems every time our beloved Abou is let out of the physio's room, he spends a progressively shorter time outside before he is covered back up in duct tape and returned to the physio for the perpetual three week stint. His injury which came early this season was particularly frustrating because we had lost a player who was in such fine form, but mostly because both staff and player were speaking about his return to fitness with such confidence that they appeared to believe he was over his injuries. Clearly he was not.

Despite his awful fitness track record, I have hope that Diaby can make a successful return to fitness and feature for the rest of the season this time round. The reason being that he is returning to the team under quite different circumstances compared to earlier this season. Back in August we saw Diaby return to a midfield that was missing the young Jack Wilshere. Both Diaby and Wilshere are both excellent at dragging the ball up the pitch from box to box and with Jack injured it was quite clear that Diaby was given alot more game time than would probably have been recommended. That Diaby ended up back on the physio's table was not very surprising.

Pictures by Ronnie Macdonald

Wenger has never seemed shy at throwing players back into the thick of things upon returning from injury, just look at Wilshere this season who has played almost every game he could after being out of action for over a year. It is difficult to tell whether this is some kind of strategy, along the lines of reinstating a strict routine in an effort to trump muscle frailties, or just a result of having such a limited squad. I can't help but think it's the latter.

The difference this time around for Diaby is that with Jack playing well and there being a fully fit midfield (let alone team), Wenger can surely ease him back into the team slowly like I'm sure he wanted to a few months ago. If things progress well we may even be able to have some squad rotation. Oh God, squad rotation... what a treat that would be. I'm not talking about that rotation where you can swap the player you really want to be playing for somone who will do while the other gets a rest. I'm talking about that sweet sweet squad rotation that comes as a result of having difficulty in choosing what the actual best eleven is.

Here's hoping that everything goes well for his return because there is no doubt his creamy presence would have us floating back up the table. I think I subconsciously rate our players by how calm they make me feel when they are on the ball... and when Diaby is on the ball life is good.

Till tomorrow, goonies.

The Goonatic

Transfer Tribulation

The transfer window is a very strange thing. That one window of opportunity where all of our wildest dreams have the potential to come true and yet, never really do. Being a football fan during one of the transfer windows is a lot like being a child at Christmas. You write your outrageously optimistic list to Santa and then get a pink pogo stick that you didn't even ask for, granted all the other kids on my road had pogo sticks and they were very popular at the time, but I asked for a skateboard... and why pink Santa? WHY!?! Back to my point... as football fans we have these hopeful lists of transfer superstars we are pining for but usually keep to ourselves so as to save face when we inevitably sign the footballing equivilent of a pink pogostick (Squillaci?).

I suppose my analogy falls short in that Santa doesn't threaten to take some of your old toys and give them to billy across the road. A decade ago, the transfer window was viewed almost exclusively as a window of oppertunity, while in recent years it seems quite appropriate that we should lock our best players in the toilet for all of January and take the batteries out of their phones while we're at it. The most recent and probably painful example of how the transfer window has become more of a threat to us, is the departure of Robin Van Persie to a rival premiership team no less. No doubt the departure hurts Wenger as much as it does the fans and it seems safe to assume that Wenger would be trying to avoid the same happening with Theo, whether such a departure would come this January with a fee or this summer as a Bosman.

Picture by Ronnie MacDonald

The whispers around the twitterspehere and news sights are somewhat positive on the matter with some news sights even reporting last night that a four year deal had been signed though it now appears, a day later, that it is not the case. Le Boss has been reaffirming his belief that Theo will indeed sign but take from that what you will as he has been answering this same question for a few months now and it's hard to imagine he would suddenly respond to the millionth "will he sign?" question with "probably not". Lets keep our fingers crossed. We have all known for a long time that Theo has potential and since Wenger has given him a run upfront and said ''show me'', he has certainly done just that. We have to be mindful that we cannot offer wages like other teams in the premierleague. The least we can do is offer the best possible deals within our wage structure to our most valued players. With that in mind and in light of all the recent high-profile departures I would imagine Wenger is all too happy to offer Theo an increase in wages. I wonder is it the monumental increase is wages a player would receive at City, Chelsea or United that Theodore has his eye on. His agent's eye more likely.

Despite worrying about losing some valued players there are quite a few squad members we would be all to happy to have tapped up and snatched away. One night I had a dream that Xavi and his delinquent chums, Pique and Iniesta were feeling a bit giddy during a sleepover in La Masia and decided to upload videos of one another claiming Chamakh had Barcelona DNA. It was one of those dreams where things are so bizzare that you realise mid-dream that there is no way it is real. sigh.

In other news, Demba Ba appears to have signed a three and a half year deal with Chelsea. There are some gooners out there disappointed that we never made a move for him after the media had linked us with him. Whether he would have performed for us or not, I think its safe to say he is not really a Wenger signing so it was never going to happen in my mind, so lets not get lost in 'what if's'. As for Newcastle, Cisse should slot into Ba's position and do just fine. I think newcastle will go on to discover last season's form now that they're over all the Ba speculation. Sturridge has gone to 'Pool. It will be interesting to see how he is integrated into the liverpool team with Suarez playing so well. I honestly wouldn't have been falling over myself to sign Daniel Sturridge though.

That's all for today. More to come tomrrow my fellow gooners.

The Goonatic