Hello all,

A good win then in the Champions League qualifies us for the knockout round with one game to spare against Porto. Should we beat them we will finish top of the group and thus better seeded for the next round. All-in-all not a great game but a good three points and I think that this may be how we have to tough it out at the moment with the current injury crisis and a lack of creativity. The game was fairly even throughout and Cesc had a good first game as captain, giving a great assist to allow Bendtner to score a late winner. Not exactly vintage Arsenal but still a win's a win. It gears us up also for this weekend's clash at the bridge. And maybe THIS will be the beginning of a new page in Arsenal's book. I know we have been saying this all season, but maybe just maybe. Anyway, now that we're qualified we should be able to give the youngsters some first team experience in Europe and concentrate more on the league and maybe build up a title challenge. Unlikely again, but possible.

Any, that's it for today, have a nice day and keep the faith, 

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

Today a look forward to the Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev. In our previous encounter we grabbed a late point, but I feel the home match should be a little simpler. Also, just moments after my post yesterday, Arsenal released this headline. And so it would seem that we will not be pouring all of our players into Europe and Wenger still believes, at least superficially, that we have a chance at the title. Anyway, Kyiv sit just 3 points behind us in the group and a win for them and Porto could compromise our qualification, although we would still probably be ahead on goal difference. A win on the other hand would see us qualify and then we could possibly start playing some youngsters and give them some good first team experience against Porto. 

We would normally go with our 4-5-1 in Europe, but now Diaby and Nasri are both out so I'd expect to see something like this:

                                      Almunia

Traore                   Gallas         Silvestre               Clichy

Ramsey                 Cesc          Denilson             Wilshere

                          Adebayor       van Persie

Sorry, I have absolutely no idea who will be playing on the wings with the vast majority of our wingers out, maybe we will see van Persi slot in on the left and Bendtner come in up the front. It will be interesting to see how Cesc handles his first game as Captain, and while it is a big ask of the young lad with so much else to do already, I think he will step up to the challenge. His motivation and enthusiasm will hopefully breathe life into the rest of the team and we may well see a much more spirited performance than under the horror days of Gallas. Unfortunately Wenger has decided to play Gallas in the squad, and it's understandable, however it would have been nice if were able to not play him and just offload him in the new year, hopefully we'll still be able to do the latter. Personally i would like to see Djourou playing ahead of Gallas, as he is just the kind of defender that we need. So we might see maybe 15-25 minutes of him against Kyiv and let's hope that there's much more to come. So all-in-all it should be a fairly comfortable win and a great place for Cesc to start his captaincy ahead of the tricky fixture against Chelski. 

Anyway have a good match and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

just a quick update for you, its seems Wenger has done the right thing and made Cesc Captain, I expect that the team will play much better under his guidance and he should take it all in his stride. Full story at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/fabregas-the-captaincy-is-a-great-honour. 

Good day, and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

Yet another dreary day in the life of Arsenal. Nothing really that new on the scene, and all the headlines still filled with Gallas' outbreak and the loss to city. So what does happen to us now. We are surely out of the title race now beign an insurmountable 10 points off the pace. So should we just ensure that we finish top 4 and concentrate in Europe, or perhaps try and get something out of this season in the league? Personally, I think we'll be far better off with the former. 10 points is alot in late november and will surely be unassailable, meanwhile we are practically qualified for Europe and I feel the players are usually motivated when it comes to Champion's league games. If we can pour the vast majority of our strength into this competiton while still maintaining our top 4 finish, we may just be able to win it. With the pressure of the league off, we would have more time and ability in the Champion's league, and while I'm not saying it's good that we're out of the race, maybe it now means that we'll be able to and win that one trophy which so far has elluded tha Arsenal. Just seeing the bright side of things here i guess, because in reality its unlikely that with poor results in the league that the players are going to be motivated and enthusiastic about the Champions league. So maybe we should start to see some even younger teams in the league, although I think we'd all agree that's probably the last thing we want to see with the inexperience of Denilson and Co. present currently. Also i doubt that Wenger is going to give up his hunt for the title and will no doubt still go on about how we can make it back and that it just requires a great show of character and maturity, etc. So I should expect realistically, that the only trophy we're likely to see this season is the Carling Cup. But still a step in the right direction you must agree. No matter how meagre and meaningless it is, it's still better than nothing at all.

Anyway, have a good day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.    

Hello all,

I take it no one is too pleased today considering yesterday's probably not too shocking result all things considered. And when a 3-0 loss to Machester City is not a shocking result, you know things are crap. Well i feel it's safe now to offically say that Arsenal's title challenge is over, and come the end of the season, I'll be happy if we're in the top 4. There is no point of course in me going over our already known weaknesses, lets just hope that when summer comes, Wenger does something about it. He has taken a step in the right direction, or rather a step out of the wrong direction, with the sacking of Gallas as captain and handing it to Almunia for the city game. This is good because, while I would have liked to see Clichy captain, it most probably means that Cesc will be Captain from here on out which is a very good thing for us. So maybe, just maybe, we might be able to salvage something from this season with Cesc leading the line, but i doubt it. All we can really hope for now is the Carling Cup and that we do well in the Champions league. There is but one other positive from yesterday, due to some unbelievable stroke of luck, Chelski, Liverpool and the Mancs all played out 0-0 draws which leaves us 10 points off the pace. Unassailable probably, but still possible. Well, I'm not going to write much more today as I'm too down to look for any other Arsenal news, not that there is any anyway, and i am still really pissed about how fucking bad this season has gone. Our fucking 5th defeat of the season that we're only just past the 1/3 mark in. Not promising. Anyway I must prepare for a barrage of insults and humiliation that awaits me tomorrow, so have a quiet day and keep that faith, 

Asian Arsenal. 

Hello all,

Just a short update for you all, it has been widely reported that Gallas has lost the Captaincy, something that has been a long time coming, and Wenger has finally done it. Whether this is true or not is yet to be confirmed as we all know how the newspapers are but lets fucking hope so.

Have an unbelieveable day and look what the faith has done,

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

Today a look ahead to this saturday's game against Manchester City, ho will no doubt be looking to take advantage of our recent inconsistency. First the injury news, The internationals have claimed their second in Kolo Toure, who strained his calf while playing for Ivory Coast. And of course also out are Van Persie who is suspended, Rosicky, Walcott, Eboue, Fabregas who is also suspended, and Eduardo. But some brilliant news on the last, Eduardo is making a return to training in just ONE WEEK. His actual return to football is still some time off probably but will surely breathe new life into the team, and maybe even some motivation.   

Over at Machester, it would seem that they have unfortunately kept Robinho fit, so we should be up for a challenge. Mark Hughes did wonders for Blackburn, and with an unlimited amount of money behind him, he is likely to do even more at city. Presently it seems however, that it is still not "cool" to play for City, and until the time comes when players are persuaded more by money than by popularity, and it will come, City are heavily reliant on this player Robinho. He has changed the formation to better suit his style of play and Arsenal will do well to keep him pinned and isolated. City are a good team and now they have Robinho, they are a great threat, they do have a weakness though, their form is almost as inconsistent as ours. With great wins and bad losses they are almost a weaker Arsenal this season, minus the possesion. They will definitely be determined to win this one and should feel they can considering Arsenal's woeful start to the season. 

Back in the world of Arsenal, I feel this game we will have to opt for a 4-4-2 considering that Cesc is out. I think Wenger will go for something along the lines of this:

                                              Almunia

Sagna                      Gallas                      Silvestre                       Clichy

Diaby                       Denilson                  Ramsey                        Nasri

                                Adebayor               Bendtner

This reveals the complete lack of depth in our current squad and it really is a major issue that needs to be addressed in  January. I fear thus that Wenger may well opt to put Diaby on the wing, even though he is a far more central player, also we may well see Ramsey in this one due to the lack of depth, the Welshman has played well for Arsenal in his previous outings and I feel he could contribute alot. However it does leave us with a somewhat lacklustre centre, as Ramsey is still a bit inexperienced and Denilson is simply not good enough to be playing first-team yet. Anyway, this game is yet another, must win, as any more points dropped will well and truly hammer down the nails in the coffin. We can do this, all we need is a little motivation and enthusiasm, and surely the thought of not being in Europe next season is motivation enough for any big 4 team. Well we'll see. 

Have a spectacular day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal. 

Hello all,

I start the blog today with some good news at last, Djourou looks to be headed for a first team place, and with the current lot of players in there at the moment, this could be some excellent news. Djourou is just the sort of player we need to sort out our defensive problems, he plays well with Gallas and Toure, he's big and beefy, he can head the ball  and he would make a competent solution to the problem at the moment. Firstly, his because he is the sort of defender who challenges and goes straight in, he partners well with the other two centre backs. He is much more a stopper type player and so this would get rid of the problem of playing Gallas and Toure, both sweepers, and of course, no one really wants to see Silvestre playing ahead of any arsenal players. His ability to head the ball would no doubt come in handy as so far this season , we have conceded a vast number of goals from aerial balls, Djourou fits in nicely here and could quite easily earn us some clean sheets, a rarity around the Emirates. Also the player has presence, he is big and musculur and scares opponents, this stature would fit comfortably in the current set up and I feel that we would be much more secure a the back with a partnership of Kolo-Djourou, or Gallas-Djourou or even Silvestre-Djourou if need be. So come on Wenger, we need him!

Unfortunately i have some grave, grave news... Theodore James Walcott has picked up an injury whilst training with the England squad, and it will put him out for THREE FUCKING MONTHS, i don't think I'm jumping the gun when i scream out loud WE'RE FUCKED. That fucking tool of a manager Capello has him for a day and hes managed to put one of our only hopes for glory this seaon out for three months. Fucking Retard. This leaves us with an even deeper dilemma then just not having the spirit and commitment of Walcott on the wing. We have an injury crisis once again at Arsenal and it seems we may be well short of players who can fill in for Walcott. Presently Eboue is injured and although i don't think he should be played as anything other than right-back, he does seem to be Wenger's second choice right-winger. The only possible replacement will be Rosicky if and when he Finally gets back to form, but by that stage it may well already be Christmas, 2087. So the way i see it, without Theo's pace on the right flank, we've no hope.  He is one of our most creative players and we will struggle without him. This means that in terms of flair, we have just Nasri, Cesc, Clichy and maybe Diaby i guess. So that's it, seaons over, if it wasn't already it definitely is now. All i hope for now is that we finish in the top 4 and retain Cesc. Because if we fail to keep him, we may well see ourselves slipping down the steep slide that is the premier league table. 

Have a good day and keep the faith, who knows just maybe, maybe...

Asian Arsenal.

Hello all,

just a quick post today as I'm bogged down in study for my exams. The draw for the Carling Cup quarter-finals has been made and amazingly we have not been placed against the crappy north-london side. As this is the only competition that I think we have a chance of winning now, I like to focus a lot on it and it is very exciting to watch Arsenal play well for once. So the draw is as follows:

Burnley - Arsenal 

Stoke - Derby

United - Blackburn

Watford - Crap

All these matches will be played in the week starting December 1 and I think ours is on Tuesday 2 December. I'm hoping, assuming we pass through this round, that we face one from the Stoke -  Derby match, or even better that there's massive upset and the semi-final teams are Arsenal, Backburn, Watford and Derby. Then I think we may just have this competition won. Still our game against Burnley has probably been the best of the lot and we should progress with ease to the semis. 

Well that's all for now, have a good day and keep the faith, 

Asian Arsenal

Hello all,

It is somewhat obvious that our season thus far has been a complete mixture of alpine highs and valley lows, and that has left us just on the scrap of the the top four, and now some idiots are starting to call it the "Big 3 plus Arsenal". Fucking disgusting. But,  as much as it pains me to say it, they may well have point. Arsenal are on the verge of sinking into midtable obscurity.

So are Arsenal now no longer one of the big four? Recent results make you look twice before answering that question. Unfortunately inconsistency, extremes, excuses and lack of depth and determination are all trademarks of lesser teams, and now horribly, of Arsenal. We have struggled this season, that can not be denied, we have struggled to bond fully and play well together as a team. The reasons for this are to be debated, but it doesn't matter. Because unless we do something fast about the inconsistent performances of this team, then we will no longer be in the battle, in fact we'll have lost, run away and soon will be forking over millions of dollars in tributes. Even the mighty Frenchman has no idea what's wrong,

I don’t have a rational explanation because we tried to make sure that everybody was on top of their game. It didn’t work. Maybe it’s down to the quality of Villa’s performance, I don’t know.   

When our manager struggles to uncover the problems underneath our disgraceful run of form and inconsistency, things aren't looking too bright for us. The only way we seem to be able to get a good result is after a bad one, and likewise a bad result after a good one, as the carling cup kids have shown us on two occasions already.So what are we to do, it can not be helped that there is a lack of support in the stands when you lose 2-0 at home to Villa, we can not bemoan a lack of depth when we fail to sign a sufficient number of players in the transfer window, and we can not blame a lack of experience and motivation when we retain the same player who wept on the pitch and refused to defend a penalty, as our captain. Our problems are results of our own faults on the whole and soon we'll be headed for the likes of Donkshire United and Billingham F.C. Don't remember them? Exactly.  

Have an unobscure day and keep the faith that Arsenal do too,

Asian Arsenal.