Arsenal

[Hazri]

Hi Ms Mig.

Glad to be back.

Looking forward to the start of the new season. Maybe we'll have more new players signing in the next month.

[MiG16]

where have you been Hazri!

I needed back up!

[Hazri]

You miss me Ms Mig?

I was busy with work a bit. And now that the season is starting soon, I'll be posting more here.

[MiG16]

your Arsenal logo is skewed hazri!

fix it!

[smokie36]

Or else!...lol.....so is Fabregas gonna stay or is he a goner?.....and are you bringing in a replacement now Henry has finally left Europe?.....

As it stands I see a three way tussle for the 3/4 th place between us Man Yoo and your sorry lot.....with our large squad I'm feeling confident....

[mrtoad]

Not much going on here - talking about 4th spot as usual

[MiG16]

i see you use the 'fear' emoticon

and rightly so mrtoad rightly so.

you know you have lots to fear. not just in Arsenal. but more so in MiG

[MiG16]

so...the closer we get to start of season, the more excited I get

(but at the moment there is also the added question of - where will MiG watch the games, and who with..although the latter is not as crucial as the former )

anyhow...to kick start the season, some comments from Arsene:

Wenger - Six or seven will contest the title

By Chris Harris

Arsène Wenger expects "six or seven" teams to challenge for what could be the most open title race in Premier League history.

[snip]

When you factor in City's summer spending - expected to exceed the £100 million mark - you can understand why Wenger feels it's no longer enough to look at the traditional 'Big Four' for title contenders.

"You expect Manchester City, who invest a huge amount of money, to be one of the contenders as well," said the Frenchman.

"Tottenham [can challenge] if they can confirm what they produced last year, Aston Villa as well. You could have six or seven teams because Everton for me has a strong squad too.

"What changed in England last year is that everybody could drop points, it was the first season that really happened. So it will be more open this year."

[MiG16]

and still no new keeper. we play the 'pool in a few hours!

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-sunday-s-keeper-will-be-our-no-1

we played well last season, but all the keepers were clumsy at best!

but, also saw this a couple days ago:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1302319/Mark-Schwarzer-confront-Mark-Hughes-Arsenal-transfer.html

[tigerfish]

lucky to get a point out of that encounter!

felt for joe cole, getting carded and sent off. especially as he not renowned for being a dirty type of player. guess he was just a little to late in timing he challenge.

roy hodgson looks like he got his players respect and playing well as a unit already.

could be a long old season for the gunners and wengers going to have his work cut out on getting a top four place.

[MiG16]

that safe by Almunia in the 93rd minute bought him some more time as keeper I suppose. usually hes so clumsy, but that was a great safe! I held my breath for a few seconds there

as it turns out it was Reina that had a clumsy moment that cost them

[mrbojangles]

I'm hoping you don't go for Shay Given

[bkkjames]

I'm hoping you don't go for Shay Given

Given to Fulham - Swazer to Arsenal

[carmine]

I'm hoping you don't go for Shay Given

Given to Fulham - Swazer to Arsenal

I think you are right there. City would'nt want Arsenal to have Given. They would'nt let us have any of their players either for that matter.

[smokie36]

I'm hoping you don't go for Shay Given

Given to Fulham - Swazer to Arsenal

I think you are right there. City would'nt want Arsenal to have Given. They would'nt let us have any of their players either for that matter.

Same reason you won't see Crouch at Anfield......I thought the Arse were poor yesterday....shame....

[Hazri]

Watching BPL News on tv now. Mancini said if Shay Given wants to leave, he can't stop him. That means Shay joining Arsenal soon?

The plot thickens...

[carmine]

Watching BPL News on tv now. Mancini said if Shay Given wants to leave, he can't stop him. That means Shay joining Arsenal soon?

The plot thickens...

He can leave yes Hasri, but that does'nt mean to one of their percieved rivals such as your good selves. They also have the financial muscle to be very pig headed. Ask Craig Bellamy who was allowed to leave for Cardiff but was'nt allowed anywhere near Tottenham.

[StevieH]

thought schwarzer to arsenal was as good as done?

[MiG16]

this was last I saw on Schwarzer: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1302319/Mark-Schwarzer-confront-Mark-Hughes-Arsenal-transfer.html

[alfieconn]

that safe by Almunia in the 93rd minute bought him some more time as keeper I suppose. usually hes so clumsy, but that was a great safe! I held my breath for a few seconds there

as it turns out it was Reina that had a clumsy moment that cost them

Looks like miggsys now working in the marketing dept at Chubb :D .

[MiG16]

making fun of my english?

I dont mean THAT english I do not have an English.....

[Hazri]

Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool

Hattrick by Walcott

Penalty by Arshavin

Diaby scored the 5th

and final goal by Chamakh, finally!

[MiG16]

yes Hazri....but only if we can continue with this in coming games!

[Jimjim]

One of these days you lot will actually have to play against an 11 man team. Let's see how you do without a one man advantage!

[SantiSuk]

Big test today - first of the mid table hackers:rolleyes: (with apologies to Fulham, who are a fine footballing side)

No that's not an invitation to the Wenger-winge warriors to have another go (but feel free - it keeps this thread on its toes). I don't believe Arsenal get hacked by Stoke/Blackburn/Sunderland et al any more than the other clubs; it's just that the current team has a higher than average quota of young lightweight (physically) and naive players. Arshavin, hopefully Chamrak (it will be interesting to watch this one) and Walcott are reasonably robust up front though. I would not have picked Nasri in the starting line up for this encounter but I think he's not available anyway. I worry about Van Persie, will shere and Rosicky in these sorts of games.

We need to keep scoring goals - you can count on at least one headed Blackburn goal from a dead ball - Vermaelen will be too busy chaperoning our namby pamby flapping goalkeeper (whichever of the two) to get in front of the usually excellent incoming ball at Ewood.

Sorry JimJim but I expect a few more 10 men oppositions if the outrageous (ly bad) refereeing like that meeted out to Joe Cole by that idiot Atkinson is a sign that Arsene's wingeing is paying off. I don't agree with wingeing one bit but unfortumately he learnt it at the foot of the master, Sir AF.

Toot toot - fascinating game in store - I'm lining up the Changs already.

PS - our season hinges not on this game, but what Wenger can do next week about the parlous goalkeeping position he has left the team with for far too long. Or have I missed some news in the last week?

[carmine]

You made some good points there.

On the point of Wenger, i think he undermined his own side in the second half of last season, moaning about the harsh treatment given out to his players by the likes of Blackburn/Stoke etc. I think he made them targets and his latest comments about rugby or football at Blackburn is taking you lot down the same route.

Obviously i hope you lose regardless being a Tottenham supporter but don't you think the normally very clever Wenger is barking up the wrong tree again?

[Chris78]

Where to watch the game tonight? Most places are closed tonight because of the election, no?

[somtampet]

You made some good points there.

On the point of Wenger, i think he undermined his own side in the second half of last season, moaning about the harsh treatment given out to his players by the likes of Blackburn/Stoke etc. I think he made them targets and his latest comments about rugby or football at Blackburn is taking you lot down the same route.

Obviously i hope you lose regardless being a Tottenham supporter but don't you think the normally very clever Wenger is barking up the wrong tree again?

Wenger is losing the plot big style AGAIN.All he does is moan to gain some sort of advantage,and he would have football as a non contact sport.Then Arsenal wouldnt have won all those trophies based on disgusting dirty play by the bummers,oops i mean gunners.Becoming the laughing stock of football due to Wengers pathetic attempts to influence refs.

[SantiSuk]

Where to watch the game tonight? Most places are closed tonight because of the election, no?

Bummer for you. Must be BKK you are talking about. I'm off to Witherspoons in Pats. Just dumped the totty after she slept the whole day on me (there's always another one around the corner), so nothing can get in the way of the real meaning of life.

To respond to another post - yes I dislike Wenger's rants - let's wait and see if they are now counterproductive

[SantiSuk]

Lucky Arsenal! A 2-1 win that could just as easily have been the other way around.

Blackburn were big and strong (not hackers so apologies for that) and we looked like powderpuffs again. The defence continues to underperform, not clearing their lines and repeatedly getting caught out when trying to dance their way out of tight situations. Let's hope Squidgy or whatever his name is can add some muscle - Koscielny (sp?) is not doing it for me and his handling of their left wing man leading up to the Blackburn goal showed he is not up to EPL pace yet.

Arsenal's touch particularly in the first half was woeful compared to that of the Blackburn squad

What was that cameo piece between Song and Clichy all about in the back half of the first half with Song apparently refusing to give Clichy the obvious, easy and correct ball and preferring to dribble himself into a tight knot? Do we have a personality clash here? Song is nothing like the powerhorse he was last season.

Bright spots - well these are the sort of results you have to squeak through if you are going anywhere, but I don't see any trophy in sight with the current defence, particularly if Van Persie is going to have another on-off season and Fab has his mind elsewhere, so that we cannot count on an offsetting bagful at the other end. Luckily the boy wonder is now becoming a man - thank you Fabio that was about the only thing you got right in the World Cup.I am being serious not tongue in cheek - rarely does an England manager contribute so much to a club by developing a player for them with one fell phone call.

Still we shall have an interesting and lively season - who wants to be a Chelsea fan anyway watching all those precise and powerful attacking moves all season and checking out of the stadium with 10 minutes to go after another yawning bagful.

Wenger was wrong when he said it was going to be a 7 or 8 horse race. It already looks like a straight fight between Chelsea and Man City to me. Still - it has been a great start for the EPL, I thought it would all be bit of an anticlimax after a hugely disappointing World Cup, but there has been some great football and the Fulham/Man U and Newcastle/Villa matches have been the stand out matches for me, a non-fanatical football lover. Have you tried watching a German league or Italian league game or even Spain outside Real/Barca? No contest. Lets hope the money side of the EPL holds up but i somehow doubt it.

Oh for the return of the Special One (now unlikely). It is striking how, with the exception of the Wigan bloke and Mancini, what a miserable unhealthy looking lot our EPL managers look these days.

England's prospects look brighter if we can break out of the Gerrard, Lampard (sorry Frank you are a great player for Chelsea but unfathomably p*sspoor at the higher level) Terry fixation. johnson/rooney/walcott/milner/barry