The title above comes from the fact that I have "Many Rivers To Cross" on my journey to North London this Saturday morning. Luckily I will cross all but the Liffey and the Thames by plane and I'll be in plenty of time to get to see my beloved Arsenal considering I leave home at 4.30 am on Saturday. I cannot describe how much I am looking forward to my first trip to The Emirates but I intend to put as many pictures on my home page as I can take so that I won't forget in a hurry.

On to matters to do with last night now and our kids lost 2-0 at Burnley in the last 8 of the Carling Cup. By all accounts they played well enough in what was a good game and if they had taken their chances things might have been a lot different. The manager reckons they missed 6 one on ones with the Burnley keeper who was man of the match so it wasn't all doom and gloom. The main culprit seems to have been Bendtner and his laid back attitude can be infuriating at times. Here's a good funny item on him by Gooner Talk. Sadly it means Arsene has lost his proud Arsenal record of never having lost to a team from a lower league but all records are made to be broken as they say(whoever they are). The press somehow have seen this as a bigger giant killing than when Burnley beat Chelsea's first team at Stamford Bridge in the last round but they need to write any old garbage to fill their pages.

In other news Jay Simpson has been linked with a loan move to Norwich and Cesc has again been linked with a move to Milan. Whatever about young Simpson we all know that Cesc is going nowhere. we have also been linked with Diego Capel of Sevilla and he might not be a bad player to strengthen our options on the wings. Our ex captain Paddy Vieira has been quoted as saying Roy Keane was his best opponent. I used to love the two of them squaring up to each other in the good old days when we won a barrow load of trophies. Our FA Cup match with Plymouth will be played at The Emirates at 3 pm on Saturday January 3rd and that's about it for today. I'm in a bit of a panic as to how I will manage my blog on Saturday & Sunday but I will find a way(I hope).

Here's the goals from last night if you can watch.

 http://www.boxofficefootball.com/burnley-vs-arsenal-live-cup-action/

And to finish the title track fromJimmy Cliff.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMzuXlKQv8

See You Tomorrow.

Our kids have a tough trip to Burnley in the 1/4 final of the Carling Cup tonight. Burnley are doing very well in the Championship this season and play quite attractive football by all accounts. We struggled for a while in the F A Cup up there last season before securing a 2-0 win. I would imagine that they will still be on a high after beating Chelsea on penalties in the last round at Stamford Bridge. Mind you we did prove that Stamford Bridge is not the fortress it used to be as recently as last Sunday. With all the injuries in the first team squad some of the youngsters will get another chance to impress tonight. Normally the boss starts with 11 players who didn't play the previous first team game in this competition. If we had everybody available he could call on Toure & Eboue to play a part or even Eduardo or Rosicky if they had recovered from their injuries(who knows they might get to play in the semis if we make it). The squad has been announced and I would expect the following team to start.

                                                                          Fabianski

                                            Hoyte          Silvestre         Rodgers/Steer     Gibbs

                                            Randall        Rambo            Wilshere              Vela

                                                      Bendtner                           Simpson

It's a pretty good team but also a very young one. If they can play with the style and tempo that they have shown in this competition so far then they have a real chance. I don't think Burnley will lay down like Sheffield United & Wigan though and I expect us to have to win the right to play football. It makes for a fascinating night and I predict a 3-2 win for us. Maybe Bendtner will stand out and score a couple in his pink boots.

On to other matters and Cesc has said what every fan has been saying for weeks. We need to focus in every game in the same way as we focussed in the Chelsea game. If we show every team the respect they deserve and actually give 100% then we all know we can beat anybody. RVP has said he doesn't think that Gallas had a problem with him which leaves Eboue as the 26 year old that Gallas had the row with I would imagine. We have been linked with Yaya again and 'Boro appearently want Armand Traore. He's playing quite well at Portsmouth at the moment but it will be hard for him to come back and wait in line behind Clichy. It remains to be seen what shall happen. I'm going to leave it at that for today as I have an awful lot to do before watching the match later.

Here's a clip of our 2-0 win at Burnley last year in the F A Cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyd2d5VBPnw

And to finish some Music from The Dead Kennedys with some travel information for us all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcjzoydyQIY

See You Tomorrow.

The title is a song by Suede and it describes how we are playing at the moment. The performance against Villa last week was bad but yesterday was even worse. What has happened to the tempo of our game ? We used to fizz the ball from player to player and tire the opposition chasing those passes. Now, we have Denilson, Song,  Almunia & Bendtner in our team and they are just not good enough to play for Arsenal. Other players were equally as bad yesterday and nobody played well and worst of all there was no fight in the team. If I see Diaby or RVP overplay the ball or try to turn their opponent too many times once more this season I don't know what I'll do. It is not the Arsenal way to take too many touches when there are options available. When I played with a player like Diaby was yesterday I used to automatically retreat every time he got the ball. We fooled ourselves, as fans, as halftime approached into thinking that we held our own and then as soon as we came under a little pressure the defence panicked and we threw away a goal. We found ourselves behind again and we never looked like pulling back the lead. We had a few chances in the game and poor finishing by Song, Diaby and Bendtner meant we didn't score for the third time in our last 4 first team games(the kids played in the Carling Cup). Our last 4 performances have been dire, with the exception of the win against United. We all hoped that the demise of Gallas would be the turning point but sadly the problems go a lot deeper than that. We have no leader(we didn't have one with Gallas as capi either), we have forgotten how Arsenal play football and we can't score. Team morale seems to be very low too and I can only hope that the only way from here is up. However I fear that things will get worse and unless we can turn things around in a hurry we will have big problems on Tuesday night at home to Kiev in the Champions League and huge problems at Stamford Bridge next Sunday.

City, like Villa and Stoke before them, deserved their victory and it could have been more. We keep conceding the first goal and we have lost the ability to come back from that situation that we had last season. At our heigth we came out of the traps like a greyhound and were 3-0 up against poor teams in 20 minutes and then we played beautiful football with power and pace and never allowed them back into the game. Where has that team gone ? We rarely score an early goal in the league now and when we do we don't pull away and kill the game off. Some fans are questioning the position of the manager but I am 100% behind him still. I do want him to sign new players who are top class in January though and failure to do so will turn more fans against him. That is a rocky road for any manager to go down and I hope he avoids it.

The team selection yesterday was wrong again and Ramsey should have started in central midfield, with Nasri on the right and Vela on the left. Denilson is not up to the task of playing for us and the sooner the manager realises it the better. He ill not get better by playing worse in every game. Fabianski should have started in goal as Almunia is going from bad to worse at the moment. While watching the game live on some weird station I found myself shouting keeper to various through balls or balls over the top but he stayed on his line every time. I know when to make these calls as I have played in every defensive position including goalkeeper and I'm sure somebody in our defence was making those same calls but he still stayed. If nobody made those calls then things are even worse than I think they are at the moment. I had to watch the game in the company of about 30 or so Man City fans as we had played them in a tournament that morning. The good news is that the 3 Arsenal teams came 1st, 2nd & 3rd in the tournament with the 2 City teams not winning a match until they played each other. My team came 2nd which wasn't bad considering we had no subs in a roll on/roll off situation and we all had to play every minute of every game. In fact we had to borrow a player from the Dublin team just to make up our 5. Special thanks to Johnny, Simon, Gavin & Sabel(?) for playing so well and we'll win it next time. It's just a pity there was no Spuds team there for us to beat.

Anyway, back to all things Arsenal again and it seems that every mistake that Clichy makes at the moment is punished severely. I hope he can regain his confidence and improve on his concentration as I heard somebody say yesterday that we should never have sold Cole. Clichy will be far better than Cole ever was and he will not betray us like that little shit did. How can our Carling Cup team play with the tempo they do and yet the first team have lost that tempo. They are all coached the same way but the first team seem to have forgotten what to do. If that isn't the case then they are just ignoring what the manager tells them and that is very worrying. In 1 week we could be facing an enormous crisis if we don't turn things around immediatly. If we win our next 2 games it will give us breathing space until the transfer window and if not we could be facing the U.E.F.A. Cup this season and next season too. I don't want us going to Porto needing a draw to qualify for the last sixteen of the Champions League because I don't think we know how to play for a draw.

According to some reports the manager considered taking the armband from Gallas in the summer but he didn't do it as he thought the player might leave. In retrospect I'm sure he regrets that decision as we all do. We have been linked with resigning Upson in January but I don't think he is good enough for us and I want a top class centre back instead. Anelka says he left us all those years ago because our fans voted that he wouldn't be able to replace Ian Wright. Silly me, I thought he left because him and his greedy agent brothers wanted more money. I can also remember him saying it was the biggest mistake of his career and he regretted it hugely. The man is only proving what we already knew, that he is an idiot.

Some people think that Gallas still has a future at the club but surely he has to go for our sake and his. Chelsea were very smart offloading that troublemaker unto us and we should have known at the time what he was like. I can remember the manager saying he wouldn't sign players who went on strike when the De Boer twins did so in their Ajax days but he still signed Gallas who threatened to score own goals if Chelsea didn't play him. So who will be the next captain then ? It will probably be Cesc but I think Kolo might do a better job. The only problem is that his form is off at the moment and a captain needs to be guarenteed his place.

The good news is that our youths won 3-2 at Crystal Palace and our ladies kept up their 100% league record by beating Liverpool 2-0. I'll leave my ranting for today and leave you with a few clips.

Here's the highlights from yesterdays game if you're in the mood to relive the pain with thanks to Boxofficefootball again.

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/manchester-city-v-arsenal-highlights/

And to finish the title track from above from Suede.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl2LTD_tu50

See You Tomorrow.

After the weekend's dismal performance it would seem that the general consensus among Arsenal fans is that the most we can hope for is fourth place in the league and having a shot at the FA Cup. To be honest I have thought that from day one and any fan who thinks about the game will have to admit that they never really thought we could win the league. I'm not even mentioning the Champions League as I cannot see how we can win it under any circumstances. We are not as strong as we were last season and while other teams have gone forwards it would appear we are going backwards. I'm not saying that this is a permanent thing but it could become one if not acted upon now. In the past the manager has brought in Vieira, Campbell, Gilberto and players who could play defensively when required. It would appear at the moment that he thinks that his brand of Total Football doesn't require  stoppers or ball winners. Unfortunately in the modern game you still have to win the right to play your own way. Teams will not just sit back and let us play our way around them. If we don't play every game at 100% we don't have the strength to force teams into submission. The manager has said that experience is not linked to consistency. If that is not the case can he please tell us what is because he doesn't seem to know and we have to sort out our inconsistency now. It's too late for the league but 4th place is a real must. If we don't need experience what do we need ? I hate to question such a fantastic manager but he doesn't seem to know what makes his team tick(or not) at the moment and that has to be a concern for all Arsenal fans. I am not suggesting for a second that he should go but I am suggesting that he listens to the fans and spends big in January and until then he recognises that some players are not giving their all and he puts in 1 or 2 of the kids who will give everything they have.

 With the dreaded international break again this midweek virtually our whole first team squad is away and Arsene won't have any time to work with the players before the City game. As a result who knows what Arsenal team will turn up next Saturday but it is interesting that after the last 2 international breaks, where there was no time to work with the players, we won our next game quite well. Are we over complicating things in training maybe ? It's just a thought but you never know. If the players are coached less before a game will they turn in a better performance with the obvious exception of the United game. My theory will be tested on Saturday afternoon when I will be watching the game in the company of some City fans after playing them in a 5 a side tournament.

In other news there are a lot of rumours linking Vela to a loan move to Hull but I think we would be crazy to do that as he need a run in our team now. Our next match in the Carling Cup, the 1/4 final at Burnley, will be shown live on Sky on my birthday so I'll have to go to the pub for that. The youth team have been drawn away to Aston Villa in the 3rd round of the FA Youth Cup and let's hope they can progress. I know that this is meant to be a blog about Cesc and Arsenal but I don't know what to say about Cesc at the moment as his form is so poor. I hope it is down to Euro 2008, his early season injury and missing Flamini because anything else just doesn't bear thinking about. That's it for today and I'll leave you with the usual clips.

Here's a clip of a recent win against our next opponents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR3OG8glPKI&NR=1

And to finish some Music from New Model Army (Raw Melody Men).

The hype is just dying down after our kids great  win against Wigan on Tuesday night. Suddenly everything at the club is great and we are world beaters again(according to the press). Never mind that a week ago they were suggesting that our manager would resign before too long or even be pushed. While I know things are far from perfect it infuriates me when the media go to extremes just for a headline. We all know what our weaknesses are and that we can beat anybody on our day but if we don't play at our best we can lose to anybody either. All the fans want is a little more consistency and effort against the poorer teams and the proper team selections and we will be a lot happier. I have not heard 1 single fan say he wanted Arsene out.

The comments Ray (Butch) Wilkins made about our lack of respect for the Carling Cup have come back to haunt him as has been reported on every other Arsenal blog today. The man is obviously an idiot and if his first team players can't raise their game to play Burnley then maybe they are starting to have a few problems. They have now lost 2 of their last 3 games. If it was us it would be a crisis. Can anyone tell me if his nickname is sarcastic because, in my opinion, he is far from "Butch". Liverpool were also beaten by The Spuds last night and the team they put out played dreadfully. There is an interesting piece  about the fact that they had 11 foreign players on the pitch and it hasn't been mentioned by the press. You know what the reaction is when we do it.

Ahead of the game against Aston Villa at the weekend the only injury news at the moment is that Adebayor & Almunia will have late fitness tests. Unfortunately our Ladies went out of their "Champions League" last night by losing 6-0 in Sweden against UMEA. The aggregate score was 8-3 and we will have to concentrate on domestic competitions for the rest of the season. Eduardo has rejoined the first team squad for training but he didn't take part in any contact and worked on his own with the ball. He will gradually build up to full contact and hopefully he will be playing in a few weeks. Young Abu Ogogo has joined Barnet on loan for an initial period of 1 month. We have been linked with Axel Witsel of Standard Liege again as have various other clubs in the Premier League but we all know nothing can happen until January. He does look good though and he fits the bosses criteria for a purchase.

That's about it for today. I have 1 question for any fans out there who are familiar with The Emirates. I collected my 2 tickets for the Wigan game on December 6th and they are in Block 118 upper tier, Green Quadrant. Where the hell is that and where do I go beforehand to refresh myself and my friend as we haven't been over since we beat Juventus at Highbury in 2001(shame on me).

I'll leave you with the usual clips.

Here's a clip of our first league game at the Emirates against Aston Villa from a fan's perspective as he enters for the first time. That will be me in 3 weeks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etKMNLtY2s

And to finish some great live Music from Aswad.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYaTd_3z2sA

See You Tomorrow.

Last night's win against a virtually full strength Wigan by our kids was fantastic. We bossed the game almost from start to finish and except for a penalty claim and a great double save, at the death, by Fabianski they never even looked like scoring. Wilshere, Rambo, Vela & Simpson were excellent but the whole team deserves praise. They played the right way throughout and never seemed nervous or overawed. The ball by wilshere for the first goal was great and Simpson took it very well. The speed at which we broke for the second goal reminded me of days gone past when we were more dangerous defending a corner than when we had one. The ball by Rambo was fantastic and Vela did very well to beat his man and look up for Simpson. As for Simpson, he did what a striker should do in that situation and stayed on the penalty spot for the cut back which he then converted very well. The best goal of all was the last one. When Bramble closed Vela down I didn't think he could score but his finish was top drawer and it shows us just how good he can become for us.

The manager was delighted afterwards but he did admit that he had to take Wilshere off early as it was past his bed time. Wilshere deservedly won the man of the match award but he can't drink it for another 2 years. Simpson says he is an Arsenal fan because of the legend that is Ian Wright. It was interesting to see Martin Keown sitting with the first teamers. Hopefully he will take up a defensive coaching post at the club as I have mentioned before because we could do with his knowledge in this department. Rosicky has had another operation and the boss says he should be back in 6 to 8 weeks. I think we heard that last January and we're still waiting. I won't hold my breath.

It was great to see us score our second goal on the break last night and it brought me back to the system we used called "third man running" when we defended corners. Basically the ball was played to the feet of a man on the half way line who then played it back to another player and he in turn hit a first time pass for a third man who had been running from deep since the first pass was played. When executed properly it left the runner with only the keeper to beat from just inside the opposition half. I'd like to see it again.

That's the lot for today. I'll leave you with the usual clips.

Here's the highlights from last night(with thanks again to Boxofficefootball).

http://www.boxofficefootball.com/arsenal-vs-wigan-athletic-live/

And to finish some Music from The Smiths.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kt-spM0lRU

See You Tomorrow.

The Squad has been announced ahead of tonight's game and it has a very young flavour to it. I'm sure we will see Fabianski, Djourou, Rambo, Vela, Bischoff, Song, Merida & Wilshere from the start with various others such as Hoyte & Gibbs and a few subs to boot. This will be a much harder game than the last time as Wigan are a lot better than Sheffield United and in Zaki they have a striker with 8 Premier league goals to his name already this season. I'm sure the kids will give it their all and Rambo and Merida have a lot of creativity between them and with Vela up front we should give them some headaches. I predict 2-1 win for us again with Rambo & Vela scoring. I intended bringing you some more news and opinion but the site is playing up so badly today that I'll have to leave it at this. Here's some clips to finish though(I hope).

Firstly here's a clip of us showing Milan how to play at the San Siro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnUgvJTE2do

And to finish some Music from The Stranglers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cx0hqS_jpE

See You Tomorrow.

Our great win at the weekend was gained with 4 French defenders 2 French midfielders in the starting 11. I can't recall many games in the 12 years Arsene has been in charge that we have had so many French players in our starting team. Samir Nasri has said that the French feel to club has made it easier for him to settle in and it seems to have worked well for him. He is getting compared to the great Bobby Pires again and if he can become that good for us it will be absolutely fantastic. He just has to start scoring against The Spuds to really live up to the comparison. He is the latest in a long line of Arsenal players, such as Ljungberg & Henry, to score on their debut against United.

Cesc has dedicated the win against United to the manager and I don't care if he dedicates it Satan so long as the players keep it up. Our Ladies beat Leicester 7-0 away from home in the League Cup quarter final and now face Chelsea in the semi final. The dubious goals panel has decided what we all knew that the goal we got against Hull was an own goal by McShane and not a goal for Cesc. Rambo has won a call up to the full Welsh squad and he's going to be some player for them in the future. The boss now says he is undecided about bringing in any players in January. He was reportedly bringing in nobody yesterday which really only proves what I said that we'll only know about if and or when it happens.

Thierry Henry says that Ronaldo doesn't deserve the European footballer of the year award and that Messi does after watching him play against us at the weekend. I agree that Ronaldo is not all he's made out to be but surely Messi is South American. What is the criteria for European footballer of the year ? If it is that you must play in Europe then it's going to be the same player as World footballer of the year. Anyway enough of useless & meaningless awards(unless our players win them of course).Jens Leahman is talking about retiring because of the standard of refereeing in Germany. It's good to see that he's as mad as ever.

It's Wigan tomorrow night at home in the Carling Cup for the under 12s and it's going to be a tough game. I'm sure that we will play the only way we know how to play from start to finish and win, lose or draw it's great experience for the boys. I'll preview that game tomorrow when I see what the squad is. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of how good they were in the last round.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB8Z_Ea8Ri0

And to finish some Music from The Specials(which is my current ring tone on my phone).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_dI6Q0cGIA

See You Tomorrow.

Good afternoon. Sorry for the late post but I'm on my lunch in work at the moment so I have to be as brief as possible. We have Hull City at 5.30 at home today and I think we should come at them all guns blazing from the start and let them see what the Premership is really like. aS I said yesterday I predict 3-0 to us. Ahead of the game their manager and George Boateng have said that they will get stuck into us. Phil Brown also said that the Davies tackle on Clichy was fair as Davies got the ball first. If that is the case the Pogatetz tackle on that United kid was fair as well as he got some of the ball first. I have played football and these guys know the game too. Davies knew exactly what he was doing as did Pogatetz. Davies was just a little more subtle which is a term you wouldn't usually associate with him. I'd usually call him a fat lumbering c**t but that's just me. Clichy has said he feared for the worst after the tackle but luckily he is available for today as is Silvestre. Theo & RVP are also over slight knocks so the only playerv missing is Nasri except for the 2 sick notes(Diaby & Rosicky) and of course Eduardo. Hull have had a good start except for the 5-0 home defeat by Wigan.

In other news we have drawn Wigan at home in the next round of the Carling Cup on November 10th and that should be a good game for the kids. Cesc has said he wants to stay at Arsenal for life so long as we continue to play the game the way we do. I do think he will also want some trophies though. So that has to be what we achieve before too long. The manager is 12 years in the job this weekend and he says he will re-evaluate his position when his contract ends in 2011. He will be 15 years at the club then and he never thought he would stay this long. he thought he would have retired by now. Finally 16th Happy Birthday to my daughter who I believe shares a birthday with the infamous Arseblogger. I was happy to find out that he is older than me, if only by 2 months.

Here's a clip of what Arsenal fans think of Joey Barton. And proper order too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gT6P4t1JqQ

And some Music from The Specials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4

See You Tomorrow.

Come On You Gunners.

This moring I am basking in the afterglow of Tuesday nights fantastic performance by the kids against Sheffield United. When you consider the results and performances of other Premiership teams ours was by far the best. Nobody else dared to a team with so little experience or so young. When you see that Lampard, Giggs, Ronaldo etc. played and scored you can see how good our kids are. Aston Villa lost at home to Q.P.R. with most of their first team out. How good are these kids ? That remains to be seen but we are all looking forward to the next round. Maybe we will see the comebacks of Diaby, Nasri or Silvestre in the next round or if we go further maybe even Rosicky or Eduardo. Time will tell but they would have to be up to full fitness to get into this team. Our squad is looking stronger and stronger as the kids play more games. Vela, Bendtner, Ramsey, Djourou & wilshere all look perfectly capable of fitting into the first team. Obviously not all in the same match but any 1 or 2 at a time could do it as they all play exactly the same way as the first team. Indeed some people are now calling Wilshere the new Chippy Brady. Some praise indeed but also an awful lot to live up to.

In other news the L.M.A. have come to Wenger's defence in his spat with Platini as has just about anybody else who has a brain. Platini got elected on a manafesto which was impossible to carry out and try as he may he will not change the rules on foreign players too much or he will not make international football bigger than the Champions League. Fans are only really intrested in the big tournaments when they reach the actual tournament stage as the real football season is then over in most countries. The biggest competition in the world is the Champions League and it will continue to grow. Every player worth his salt wants to play in the Champions League(with the obvious exception of David Bentley) and that's why the top clubs in it will continue to attract all the best players. We take a slightly different approach in our buying policy but when the players come through they are at one of the top 5 clubs in the world. If we wanted to buy big any player would be intrested in joining us. So Mr. Platini - shut your mouth, leave our manager alone because soon you will not be remembered as the great player you once were but instead as an idiotic politician who can't keep his mouth shut. In transfer news today's link is Karim Benzema of Lyon for £80m. I'm absolutely certain we will buy him and pay him £250k a week as we can obviously afford it. Seriously though this is all stupid talk and nothing will happen until January and even then we don't need him. we need a central defender and a central midfielder in my opinion but I'm starting to wobble on the midfielder question. We will know for sure when we play the top clubs. That's about it for today.

I'll leave you with a link to some very good teamwork goals from Arsenal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wopQvTaBdOs

And to finish some Music from The Fun Boy Three.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbd7eZn4Zto

See You Tomorrow.