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