Written by Mean Lean on Thursday, 10 March 2011 16:33

Sorry for the late blog today, my day ended late last night therefore started late today.

I have slowly started to back away mentally from the Barcelona defeat although I am still pretty annoyed about how it came about. As Arsene would say we can only master what we do and not what others do.

Arsene Wenger and Samir Nasri have been charged for being annoyed and speaking the truth following a horrific decision from the referee.

It is almost like being thrown into prison for calling a murderer, utter scum. Rather strange. Ok, not quite so bad but you know what I mean. I suppose keeping everyone quiet and not exposing certain officials for what they are is what UEFA want. I am surprised that calling for video technology isn't worth a fine or two as well. Essentially, it is the same as criticising the referee's.

Arsene likes to keep us in suspense doesn't he? He said that things were said to him by people who really shouldn't be but he wouldn't expand on that. I am assuming he means the referee and I would love to know what was said.

Anyway, what can we do about it? Time to move on me thinks. We have an important game on Saturday and we will be without Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and obviously Thomas Vermaelen who has experienced yet another set back. Knowing what Arsene has been like in the past, I do not expect Vermaelen to be rushed back to play this season which is a mighty shame for him. He had such an impressive first season and it is sad that he will not be able to build on such a great start. Finding the solution to his achilles is the priority and he needs to get ready for pre season.

Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou have been in outstanding form and we have to cross all parts that they can remain fit, especially Djourou as the Djourou / Squillaci combination has been pretty solid.

I hope we can lay the whole Arsenal cannot defend thing to rest now after our defensive display before the red card. We were compact, determined and very well organised. The nonsense that Wenger does not teach defending has been a lie spoken so often that it has become the truth.

I expect that Wenger will rotate the squad somewhat on the weekend as West Brom will be massive, like the rest of our league games.

Beating the Mancs at Old Trafford would be very important for the team after recent disappointment in the last few weeks but I think they will play a very strong side even with an important Champions League game a few days later. We have already played our game and many of our established players ran around like crazy so the risk of injury increases with yet another intense game.

We have a goalkeeping crisis at the moment. Almost every keeper, including our youngsters seem to be crocked. Or at least coming back from being crocked. Quite strange really. Arsene has said that the club will contact the Premier League to ask for an emergency keeper as a temporary solution and he already has someone in mind but would not tell the press who that player was. So those who want a new keeper should be content a little at the prospect of a new registered member of staff on our books.

Alex Ferguson has spoken about Arsenal being the main threat to Manchester United but I am sure you have already read about that as it is now old news.

I shall take my old news away with me and present you with some new news, not now but tomorrow.

Have a great rest of the day.

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Comments (31)

• 10-Mar-2011 18:40 | | Danish Gooner  - Mancs
  

  Are you suggesting these players cant go full throttle twice in a week,pathetic ???

• 10-Mar-2011 19:24 | | Man United Killa  - Response for ML
  

  Good article ML.Hmm..but what took you so long?Did you sleep in?
  By the way,maybe the one thing I like about AW is that he does not give much out eh?especially during the transfer window.Good thing I must say.
  About our defensive capabilities,I wonder If we can defend like that week in week out.That would be fantastic but it would sacrifice our attacking style of play I think.
  Finally with all these injuries, a nice solid back up would have been nice.no?

• 10-Mar-2011 19:42 | | Kay
  

  as long as rosicky plays for arsenal they'll not win that match. apart from the fact that he does not add much to the team, he is bad luck! bad luck! i tell ya.
  check how many matches has arsenal won with rosicky playing?

• 10-Mar-2011 19:47 | | Man United Killa  - hmmm
  

  haha.

• 10-Mar-2011 20:07 | | richie  - perspectives
  

  Muk Name a Prem squad of twenty five better than ours man for man. See if you can.

• 10-Mar-2011 20:42 | | redboy  - lining there pockets
  

  just keep handing your money over to the shareholders.they dont give two fucks about the team just lining there pockets.peanuts spent on this team.and with wenger in charge we wont win fuck all ever again he is clueless

• 10-Mar-2011 21:00 | | redboy
  

  why dont we play all our injured plays at man u on saturday then wenger can make us look a bigger joke than he did in barsa.surely cese wants to play in this one aswell

• 10-Mar-2011 21:09 | | manjohnel
  

  We all know dat by d end of Sat,we'll have only d EPL to play for,which we'll not win anyway. Cesc has to leave dis summer,it is becoming too selfish for AW and d board to keep him from achieving d dream of winning trophies(despite his huse talent) while they're busying fulfilling their own dream of financial success.

• 10-Mar-2011 21:19 | | manjohnel
  

  Arsenal fans will need to take a drastic measure for d club to ever win anything again. Theclub currently is not being run to win trophies but rather to generate profit.And as longer AW keeps delivering dat to d board,he'll never be put under pressure to win anything and he'll never win anything. With £45m we can buy 2 or 3 world class additions dat'll move us to d next level,but heel no,they'd rather keep dat money and declare it as profit.

• 10-Mar-2011 22:17 | | Man United Killa  - What have I done this time?
  

  Richie name only 5 reasons (forget the other 20) why we are better than the trophy-winning teams man for man though they keep winning the trophy.
  I have never said that our team is not good.My only problem is that our back up is not good enough.

• 10-Mar-2011 22:19 | | Man United Killa  - Honestly
  

  Richie..Let me ask you an honest question.Are you really happy with our backup?

• 10-Mar-2011 22:21 | | richie  - name names manjohnel
  

  MJ please name which two or three world class players Arsene should buy for 45m quid that´ll move us on to the next level (a level one above Barca I suppose)

• 10-Mar-2011 22:28 | | MeanLean
  

  When you say Trophy winning teams, do you mean Chelsea?

• 10-Mar-2011 22:30 | | MeanLean
  

  Arshavin, Vermalen (currenty I woud say), Gibbs, Ramsey at this stage woud all be back ups. How many teams have that quality?

• 10-Mar-2011 22:40 | | richie  - Honestly ?
  

  Compared to which other premier squad? Chelski? Manu´er? Money City? The Spuds? The Pool? Man for Man compare squads yourself and get back to me our second string compares to any. Muk would I like better yes but so would Barca fans. Do I want Arsene to spend bundles No! I like his development of young players more than bought ones!

• 10-Mar-2011 22:42 | | dkgooner
  

  Hi richie. Ignore the trolls and they go away.

• 10-Mar-2011 22:45 | | MeanLean
  

  That my friend is a fantastic point. As much as I love Andrey Arshavin, who was our most expensive signing under Arsene Wenger, in fact in our history. Jack Wilshere joined us as a 9 year old.
  
  How many people would suggest that Arshavin is currently worth more to the side than Wilshere? Ok that is a bit unfair as they play in different positions.
  
  I should say which player is consistently performing more? Simple question I suppose.
  
  I love the way Denilson, Bendtner etc are held up as the reason why we need to spend big on established players yet completely ignore the likes of Cesc, Van Persie, Wilshere, Djourou, Song who probably came to a total of under £6 million pounds.

• 10-Mar-2011 23:04 | | dkgooner
  

  Yes ML - it's unfortunate that we're getting this injury list again. I sometimes wonder if we'll ever see TV5 in an Arsenal shirt again. But I've had an achilles problem too some years back and I thought I would never recover, it just went on and on. And Cesc's bloody hamstrings are driving me mad. Can't he just have them out, like tonsils?
  Saturday's team will be interesting. Almunia is the only possibility in goal. The back four, if fit, speak for themselves. Then Diaby and Wilshere I guess. Nasri and RvP. Still leaves two - not knowing how far along Ramsey is along the recovery road, it's difficult to say whether he should play or not but he wasn't on the bench at Barca, so I don't see AW starting him, although I'll be amazed if he's not on the bench. So that leaves the question of whether to play Bendtner or Chamakh up front with RvP, and Arshavin out left, or whether Rosicky will get the nod again. I'd like to see a really attacking formation so my vote would go to Chamakh (because he's better at receiving and holding the ball than NB and just as good in the air) with RvP dropping just off him.
  United have lost their last two so they would probably prefer an easier task. I'm not saying they'll be shaking in their boots, but they know we will come at them. I think we'll win it this time, maybe after a replay. My confidence is based on our defensive form and the fact that their confidence has taken a bit of a bash. If we can get the first goal, it will give them the jitters. Carragher did us a big favour the other day - they will miss Nani.

• 10-Mar-2011 23:05 | | richie
  

  I spoke to a Spud today and to my utter amazement he said ´´Your lot were robbed just like Chelski were against Barca¨ Its typical European Anti-English football. For once I was lost for words especially as embarrassingly I´d spent 90mins wishing AC Milan would score.

• 10-Mar-2011 23:13 | | MeanLean
  

  Good evening DGK,
  
  Haha yeah taking Cesc's hamstrings out and ridding of this flipping problem sounds like a bloody good idea.
  
  The idea of not seeing Vermaelen in our shirt again just made a tear roll down my face. Not a nice thought. Lets hope he sellotapes his achilles together ready for next season. I wonder what Arsene will do once (I hope) all of our center backs are fit for pre season. Big choice.
  
  As for the weekend, I am thinking that he may just rotate the squad a little more than usual. Especially with our recent run of injuries. After playing with ten men for the last half hour the players were almost walking at the end because they were so tired.
  
  I reckon Ramsey will start in place of Cesc. He is fit and just needs games. Perhaps he was saved for the weekend, made to stay behind to work on his fitness for the Mancs. I would be amazed if he didn't start that one to be honest.
  
  I reckon we may see a mix and match side on Saturday. Something like..
  
  ---------------Almunia,
  Sagna Squillaci Koscielny Gibbs
  --------Denilson Diaby
  Eboue/Bendtner Ramsey Arshavin
  -------------Chamakh
  
  As important as it is to beat the Mancs and try and win the FA Cup, the league is still the big one and it is in our hands as it is with those red Mancs.

• 10-Mar-2011 23:14 | | MeanLean
  

  You know things are bad when Spuds are talking like that.

• 10-Mar-2011 23:22 | | richie
  

  Its Funny because I can´t slate our own except with constructive criticism. According to Muk I´m now your stooge despite not knowing you I should worry, my wife calls worse daily.

• 10-Mar-2011 23:52 | | Man United Killa
  

  You call Arhavin a back up?Are you kidding me?I guess you have not realized that Nasri comes off the bench sometimes.Arshavin started coming off the bench when he lost form.Is that what you call back up?I dont think so.I call this rotation between Nasri,Arsh and Walcott.
  You call Vermaelen backup?Who is the first choice defender if Vermaelen is a backup.ML,I really dont think you have anything to say.Gibbs and Ramsey are backup alright.Gibbs is fine but if you really want to win a trophy and you have Cesc injured and you bring in Ramsey what are you talking about?That,my friend is a joke..hahaha
  That is what we should be doing with our midfield in my humble opinion.I dont know what you guys see but

• 10-Mar-2011 23:59 | | Man United Killa  - for Richie and Mean Lean
  

  You and Mean Lean are contradicting yourselves.if Arhsavin is our most expensive player,why would he be the backup?Why would you spend more on back up than what you have?
  Please lets get this straight.Arsh is not back up.Wenger has successfully balanced rotating Arsh,Nasri and Theo.All I am saying is that,we are short in midfield and attack especially when Cesc and RVP are injured.Their backups are rubbish.Period!
  
  Richie, who said Wenger should go out and spend bundles.He didnt spend bundles on Nasri yet he is a fantastic player.I am not saying he should buy the Messis and Ronaldos.That is of course not a sensible thing to do.All I am saying is we need better backup.Another Nasri or Arsh quality in Central midfield would be great.the current backup is not good enough.

• 11-Mar-2011 00:07 | | Man United Killa
  

  Those of us who have different opinions in terms of thinking the team is not ready to make it yet at the highest level are always slated and labeled outcast...called all sorts of names..but that is what this blog is about.to express our points of views..
  Guess what?We all dont think the same way.

• 11-Mar-2011 00:20 | | Man United Killa  - 45? you might have even overestimated
  

  Manjohnel, you make a good point.45 might even be too much.That is the point I have been trying to make.Lets take Nasri...
  Who complains about Nasri? No one...
  Why? Because he is doing well.Players have highs and lows but that is football.
  Is Nasri a world class player? Yes
  How much did we sign him for? Lets exaggerate and say 15 million pounds.
  So there!!!There are lots of talented players like Nasri who come at good prices.That is all we are asking.No one is asking Wenger to go and sign David Villa,or Ronaldo,or Benzema.

• 11-Mar-2011 00:47 | | richie
  

  You don´t say I was speechles! Which doesn´t happen often. Team selection will probably be bizar this weekend, I expect Arsene to field a patched up team. Manu´er will be well up for it, Taggart won´t want to lose 3 in a row and he´ll see this as effecting their league confidence too. I´d like Arsene to select an attacking team to take the game to them even at theirs, our defense is good enough now.

• 11-Mar-2011 01:03 | | MeanLean
  

  Arshavin's demotion to the bench with Theo's intoduction to the starting line up was the start of our turn around in form. We beat Chelsea, Brum away and many more games. When our attacking players were fit he became a squad player.
  
  If Vermaelen came back fit today he would become a squad player.
  
  We are only bringing in Ramsey because he needs games. We have players such as Nasri who can play in Cesc's position.
  
  You still have yet to tell me which team has a better squd depth than us.
  
  Anyway MUK, have yourself a great evening/morning. I am off to dreamland where hopefully I do not dream about awful referees.
  
  Nite all

• 11-Mar-2011 16:00 | | richie
  

  No Muk you are the contradiction I said I prefer Arsene to develope young players rather than buy them. As you mentioned Shava I´ll mention Jack, who I say is (if fit) first choice ahead of Shava (our most expensive purchase compared to our least). Shava might not be back up 4 you but he´s not an out and out striker which puts him firmly in the middle.
  
  Play 442 and I say our first choice mid would be Cesc Song Jack and Nasri so where does that leave Shava? (I say second string) If you disagree tell me who´s place out of the 4 he takes? Lets look at it in depth Rosicky for Cesc Denilson for Song Diaby for Jack and Shava for Nasri. As Ramsey has yet to play I´ve parked him up. Do likewise with any of our prem rivals and they´ll come up short, in other words they have less of a second string. Name any prem team with two good 11´s that are better than ours?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  uuuu striker in a

• 11-Mar-2011 19:10 | | richie
  

  Muk mate if you really think there are loads of Nasri's out there then your either delusional or you'd better get a job working for us as the top scout, because Nas is yet another of Arsene's nuggets. He was a protege he's regarded by the French as the most exciting young player in France. A bit like Jack who alongside that player who plays for the Spuds Bale I think is reguarded by many as the most exciting young English player. Shava we paid big money (big 4 us that is) Nas chose us because of Arsene's rep for developing youngsters.
  
  As you' ve stated there and I quote "There are lots of talented players like Nasri who come at good prices"
  Please elaberate further I'd love to hear about up and coming young players of Nasri's quality especially at good prices especially cheap ones. I might be a bit presumptous but I think Arsene would like to know about them as well. Please give us a few names no need to give us lots less than a handful will do.

• 12-Mar-2011 04:31 | | Man United Killa  - Your answers
  

  Are you saying there is no player like Nasri in France?or elsewhere who we can sign for about the same amount?You really dont know what you are talking about.How about this, if you think Nasri is the only player in this world who has that much quality and costs 13million pounds?
  you dont need to go that far from home buds
  Nzogbia is one quality player...Eden Hazard is a perfect player for our playing style.Guissepe Rossi is immense,..Sahin,Hamsik,Alexis Sanchez,Cavani...the list is endless.
  Dude!!!dont get me started. Do you know who Jovetic is?Immense quality,just like Nasri.and he wont cost the earth.do you have any idea how much Pazzini cost Inter Milan.
  If you are suggesting that,we cant find a balance between spending wisely and getting quality players, you are seriously out of sync with reality.come back to earth

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